DragonBall Z: The Legacy Saga
by RonninBlade
Summary: AU gohanxvidel fic, lots of fluff, lots of action, plenty of everything in between! read it to find out more
1. Chapter 1

"KaaaaMeeeHaaaMeee HAAAA!"

It was the day before Gohan's first day at school, and he had never been more nervous. He didn't really know what he had been thinking when he had stolen away into the hyperbolic time chamber at one thirty in the morning. Ever since that set of wishes he made on the dragonballs over the last two years, when he wished for there to be no limits on the amount of time spent in the chamber, for the chamber to no longer cause aging, and lastly, for the chamber's gravity to adjust itself to the personal preferences of those inside he had gone in for a week of training every weekend (after he finished his work of course, or his mom would kill him). It made it much easier for him to keep up with work, and training simultaneously. After he made the first two wishes, however, he had spent a full two years time in there training, to make up for the last five years of being just a scholar.

He had now spent the last 44 16 hour days, 9 hours, 50 minutes training in the hyperbolic time chamber, with six hour intervals for sleep. He now had 12 hours, 10 minutes left before the minute he had to leave. It was a good thing he could fly faster than anyone on earth, or he would never have made it to the chamber in time. As it was, it took him half an hour to reach the chamber, and it would take him just as long to get back so he could get out of his training clothes and shower. It was a good thing he would get out at 5 o'clock. He didn't have to go to school for another hour. Damn his mom and her math tutelage! After being home schooled for seven years, he was quite probably the smartest kid going to Orange Star High, but it was still an annoyance when a mathematical equation pops into his head when he's trying to perfect a new ki technique.

'Well, I still have ten minutes before I should sleep. I'll get up with six hours to spare, so I think I could spare those next ten minutes to try something new.'

He had felt the new transformation building in him for the last week or so of training. This was the main reason he had left the extra six hours open for after he woke up. He knew ascending to a new super saiyan level would exhaust him to no end, so, just in case, he left six hours for extra sleep time. He had felt the approaching power increase when he went ss2, and he knew what it felt like, so he knew now was a good time to try it out. He powered up to super saiyan 2, not stopping when he reached the limit of that power. It seemed that with each new level, it became harder to obtain the new strength, but gave much more satisfaction when it was reached.

He had some idea that, in order to reach super saiyan 3, he would have to push not only his rage to a new level, but his physical limitations would have to be breached. He pushed himself to the brink. His power now flooded the air far into the distance and out of his line of sight. He also figured on the fact that he was only half saiyan meant he needed more energy to complete the transformation, making him more powerful in that state than a full blooded super saiyan would become. Every once in a while, he used the psychic training piccolo had given him to let his senses slip beyond the boundaries of his dimension, so he could check up on his father's progress in his training in the Otherworld. Although he could not speak to Goku, it made him feel better to be close to his power.

When his father was alive, they were very close. The last time he checked on his dad, goku appeared to have breached a new level in his training. Gohan could tell by not only the boost in his power level, but by the change in the frequency of the power. He remembered piccolo's words to him on the subject of sensing others ki, and recognizing it; "Each individual's ki has a specific frequency that makes it different from all others." He had learned since then that each super saiyan transformation changed the frequency a little bit more than the last. Still, when last gohan had checked on his father, they were of the same power level, even though they were on different super saiyan levels. That meant that when gohan did reach ss3, he would be even more the strongest being in the universe than he already was. He wasn't conceited or anything, but, after years of wishing his power would go away because of the damage he could do with it, he had finally come to accept it.

However, he was having trouble reaching the next level. This was the first time he had really tried, but he was pushing every part of himself now, and it still wasn't doing it. If he kept this up, his body would just shut down. He knew what he would have to do, then. When he was here the first time, when his father was still alive, goku had taught him every technique he knew. Some he couldn't do, because he didn't have the requirements, so, although he had the technique, he couldn't use it. One of these was instant transmission, although, he promised himself, if he ever got the chance, he would travel to Yadrat and fulfill the necessary requirements to use the technique.

He knew of only one technique that could push him to the next level, and although he had never tried it before, he was determined to be stronger. At the moment, the memories of the fight with cell flooded his brain, provoking him to rage. After all these years, the grief at his father's death was still fresh in his mind. Yet, it wasn't enough to push him to a super saiyan 3. he would do it. He would try the kaio ken. The special technique that his father used when he first fought Vegeta. However painful, the technique expanded the physical limits, and therefore gave the user a portion of strength transferred directly from his life force. The only problem was, because they were both already super saiyans when he had mentioned it, his father didn't think they would ever need it again, and didn't teach him the technique. He only knew how to use it from watching his father all those years ago in his fight with Vegeta. But he assumed that was how his father had reached it, so that was how he would. He focused his energy around his core being. He felt his blood flow through him, felt every vein in his body pulsating with demi-saiyan energies. The electricity crackling around him now was so bright and so frequent, it became hard to see beyond it. His internal clock said he had three minutes left. He activated the power.

"KAIO KEN!"

his muscles bulged, his shirt ripped, he physically grew a few inches. Then, something happened. It continued. This was wrong. He no longer had control. The technique was tearing the life from him. He felt his power double, triple, quadruple, quintuple. This shouldn't happen. He couldn't move now, and the pain was nearly unbearable. Even in super saiyan 3, he would never obtain this much power. This was the strength of his life. It was killing him. He let out a scream. So great was the scream, the entire gateway into the chamber was torn to bits. He was trapped. Then a hole ripped open into the real world. The force of this power was tearing a hole in space time.

This had to stop. If he didn't stop himself, he could destroy the entire universe. He focused his human side, desperately trying to balance the rage. In the distance behind his closed eyes, he saw her. The girl of his dreams. She was pretty tall, with long raven hair, tied in two ponytails. Her wide eyes were a deep azure, her face one of immaculate beauty. Her form, graceful, yet strong, like a fighter's. Then, as suddenly as she had appeared, she was gone, in an explosion of energy and a cry of anguish. The sight of her, then, the feeling of her power die, caused a rage to rise in him like no other. Something had harmed her, and he could do nothing to stop it. The rage rose through him, dwarfing the power of the kaio ken. He felt his skin glow with power. He let out a cry of unbridled fury. The power dissipated. He opened his eyes. He was staring through the red haze of bloodrage. He looked down. His body had changed. He sensed the change in the frequency of his power. His muscles were larger, yet proportionate to his body's size. He felt something swishing behind him. He looked around, to find that he had regrown his tail. He also noticed that his hair reached down to the ground. Although the power of ss3 was nothing compared to the strength he experienced under the spell of the kaio ken, he was rather glad. He doubted he could survive that much power. He found that he was exhausted, and powered down. He collapsed almost immediately.

She awoke with a fright. Her dream had been one of incredible power, if not one of any significance. She was walking along a dark tunnel, and she saw a light ahead. As she got closer, she saw that the light came from a man.

'No, not a man, a boy, about the same age as me.'

He was resplendent in a red training gi, with a blue undershirt, belt, and wrist bands. As she got closer still, she saw his face. He was indeed as young as she, if not only a year older at most. His face was soulful, strong, and determined. His eyes somehow faded between deep blue and obsidian, without ever changing color. He had short, however unkempt spiky hair, and a ponytail tied back behind him, blowing in a wind that seemed to come from the boy himself. He carried himself with an heir of great self respect, but without the typical arrogance and pride that usually follows. His eyes held a sort of unbound innocence that, despite the power she could feel within him, power enough, she was sure, to destroy worlds, seemed to fit perfectly.

She knew at that moment that this was the boy she was destined to fall for. He was just perfect enough to be a dream come true, and real enough to be a living being. Then, the change occurred. His eyes went turquoise, his hair golden, and the air around him crackled with electricity. He sent a wave of power around himself. She didn't know how, but it seemed he was getting stronger still. He let out a cry – "KAIO KEN!" and his muscles bulged inhumanly. She suddenly was struck with a chord of fear, her instincts telling her the boy was in danger of dying. The boy let out a cry in pain, and then seemed to notice her. When he saw her, the pain within him seemed to cease, and he turned to her. It was then that she felt the burning searing pain within her stomach. She let out a cry, and fell to the ground. "NOOO!" the boy cried. Before the dream faded, she saw him change again. His hair grew long, reaching the ground, he sprouted a golden tail, and his brow grew heavier. Still in his eyes, there remained that innocence, and a concern for her well-being, and, perhaps, even, a love. That was when she woke.

"what was he?" she asked herself.

She promptly shook it off. She had school today, and now was not the time to worry about mystery men of her dreams. She showered, dressed, and then Videl Satan got into her jet, and flew off towards school.

When Gohan woke up the next morning, he found it to be a week after he had collapsed.

"Shit! That means I've been in here a full 28 minutes longer than I wanted to. I only have 32 minutes to reach home, shower, change, and fly to school."

It would take him a full 30 minutes just to get to school. He was never going to make it.

'unless…'

the requirements of the instant transmission were an advanced understanding of the ki of the user, and the ki of the location, in relationship to space-time. He was pretty sure his knowledge of physics were good enough, and his senses were certainly enhanced even normally from becoming a ss3, so he could definitely sense things much better than ever before.

'Worth a try, I guess.'

He reopened the portal into the real world by going ss2.

'Wow, I guess going ss3 really enhances all my power, although I'm sure that the kaio ken pushing me past my physical limits, triggering my saiyan heritage had more to do with it.'

He left super saiyan, and jumped through the portal seconds before it closed. Then he tried the instant transmission. He focused his energy, realizing his relationship in the universe around him, and sensed the exact location of his brother's ki. He activated a time-space slipstream with his power, and passed through it. He exited into the bedroom he shared with his brother.

'alright! I did it!'

he had to cover his mouth to keep from screaming when he accidentally jumped on the edge of the training sword he had given to Goten. It was a good thing he had skin that was relatively bulletproof, or that would have hurt a lot more than it already did.

He showered at super speed, dressed in blue jeans and a pink button down (he had heard somewhere that when a man wears pink it shows an incredible amount of social confidence, something he was lacking in), ate a two ton breakfast that was large even for him, said goodbye to his mom and little brother, and flew off, since he didn't know anyone from the school to lock his ki onto. Fortunately, his new transformation left him with his speed nearly doubled normally, and he went super saiyan to increase it still further, so he managed to make it to school with thirteen minutes to spare. He landed inconspicuously behind a tree, and stepped out just in time to see an all too familiar face of a certain girl walking with her friends. He froze. This was the girl from his dreams. Although he hadn't doubted she was real, it was a little bit of a surprise to see her in person so soon. He had a feeling he wouldn't be watching her from afar for very long. Determined to meet the girl when the time was right, he walked off towards school.


	2. Chapter 2

"So… did ya see the new kid?" said Videl's best friend, Erasa,

"Hmm?"

Videl was lost in her thoughts of that boy again.

'Who was he?'

"I said, did you see the new kid yet?"

"oh, no. have you?" she said absent mindedly.

"Nope. Someone said he was wearing a pink shirt though. I hope he's cute. They say that real men wear pink, and if he's cute too, it might be the perfect combination." Erasa giggled.

"alright ladies and gentlemen," said the teacher, who, on a side note, hated his job, and only took it because Hercule's gym wouldn't take him because he was too much of a"scrawny wimp."

"Scrawny wimp my ass" he said under his breath.

'if that slide rule wasn't just a piece of wood, I'd have it in a headlock in three seconds!' he eyed the slide rule hatefully.

"We have a new student. I'd like you all to meet Gohan." He eyed the door.

Gohan stepped through, tripped over the threshold, and fell flat on his face.

"ow!"

the whole class was filled with laughter, which only died down when the teacher broke the slide rule over his desk. He looked down at the broken piece of measuring tool left in his hand.

'hah! I'd like to see you try that Hercule.'

"Sorry everybody." Said gohan,

"I guess on top of being a klutz, I'm a bit nervous. I've been home schooled all my life, and I have never been inside a high school before."

When Videl saw him, she was hit so hard by it her heart rocketed into her throat.

'he's here? He goes to school here?'

"Well, gohan, tell us something about yourself."

"well, I live in district 439 –" he was cut off by gasps in the audience, which he mentally slapped himself in the head for

'schmuck. Home is so far away it would take normal non-flying people 6 hours to get there by car.'

He realized it was too late to correct himself, and went on.

" – I like to read, and I train in martial arts –"

he was cut off once again when someone in the crowd yelled out "yeah right, and I bet you wear pink spandex when you train, right?"

gohan, realizing this was an insult only when everyone started laughing again, went as red as a tomato. Then the girl of his dreams, who was the main reason he was so nervous about coming into the classroom, spoke up.

"Hey! Shut up you jackasses! Take a better look at him, why don't ya! You can't see the way he carries himself? He's got fighter written all over him!" this, of course, was a complete lie. Gohan, since walking into the classroom was exactly the opposite of the boy from her dream, except for the eyes. He was clumsy, timid, and, for someone who looked powerful in her dream, here, it seemed his very physical form was brought down a notch, as if he were hiding his true strength in a smaller, less toned body.

'Whatever he's hiding, he sure hides it well.'

He was kind of cute though, so cute in fact, she couldn't stop stealing looks at him the entire period, and she had the sneaking suspicion he was doing the same. Well, he was cute, and she supposed that made up for the clumsy gawkiness. She was about to give up on the idea of him suddenly undergoing a transformation that would make him like the boy in her dreams, when P.E. class rolled around.

"If this doesn't re-catch her eye, I don't know what will," said gohan, after everyone had left the changing room. He opened up his capsule, and took out what was in the bag that it became. Inside was a new set of training gi. It was identical to the one he had worn that previous night. He began to change, when he noticed a slight problem. He had managed to have his tail rapped around his waist the entire day, concealed under his 2xtra large tall pink button down, but, he couldn't do that again, because the gi was tied by a sash at his waist, and, if the lump where his tail was didn't show up, his tail was the most sensitive spot on his body. If he tried to force it flat under the gi, it would hurt. he guessed he had no choice.

'hey, don't sweat it.' He coaxed himself,

'your tail has started to grow again, so even if you lose this one, you'll regrow it by next month.'

Another voice inside himself, one that was a cross between piccolo and Vegeta, his sparring partner for the last 7 years, said 'YOU'RE A SAIYAN! We saiyans have pride. Keep that tail, and wear it with dignity. You spent the first half your life with one, and you were never uncomfortable around people before, so don't be now.'

This voice was powerful, filled with pride and confidence. It was a voice that had saved him many times in past predicaments. He hesitated a moment longer, the other voice, was the one that did just that, made him hesitate. He squeezed his eyes together and rubbed his temples bitterly. It was that very hesitation that had gotten his father killed in the fight against cell. When he opened his eyes, his warrior spirit and determination shone through. To hell with the hesitant voice. He was a saiyan, and the strongest of them at that. He would wear his tail with pride. He blasted a small hole in the seat of his pants, just in the right spot for his tail, he slipped the pants on, glad to have his tail free of its confines. He drew on the blue undershirt, the red overshirt, tucked them in, and tied the sash. He removed the black band holding his hair in his ponytail, and tied it with a blue strip of cloth. He tied one to his tail as well. When he stepped out of the locker room, he was met with the simultaneous gasp of the entire class.

When she left the ladies locker room, late, as usual, (she didn't like being seen, even by girls. She had a certain amount of dignity to uphold, so she waited until after everyone else left to change) she heard gossip outside. Everyone was standing crowded around something, something red and blue. He pushed past the crowd, and walked up to the gym teacher, every bit the warrior in her dream. His stance was strong, and he walked with an air of confidence. Although, throughout the day, he had shown academically, he was the smartest kid in the school, this was clearly his area of expertise.

"so, what is the class doing today?"

"Keep your shirt on kid, although you may have some trouble with that, considering how many girls over there look like they want to take it off for you. But anyway, we're going outside today, to practice something new – tai chi."

Gohan wiped his forehead "whew, for a second there I thought we would be doing something I didn't know well, like baseball, but tai chi, I can do pretty well."

When he returned to the group, he caught sight of her.

"Hey, I'm Son Gohan. I have to thank you for standing up for me first period. I can tell the way you stared that guy down that you're a bit of a fighter too. Might I ask your name?"

yup, this was definitely the real him. Strong, confident, with a presence like a hurricane as compared to the slight breeze that was his audience. After three or for seconds of silent contemplation (and what is meant by contemplation is Videl being in a complete dumbstruck stupor), she responded. She held out her hand for him to shake, images of him pulling her into his arms for a kiss flashing through her brains.

'Gohan…' she put these thoughts down. 'I haven't even introduced myself to him yet, and already he's all I've thought about all day.'

She grasped his hand, and shook once. "Satan Videl. Nice to meet you."

Her thoughts, by the way, were surprisingly accurate as to what he was thinking of doing at that moment, but he too resisted.

"whoa! Son gohan, any relation to son goku, the winner of the 23rd tenkaichi budokai?" she said at the same time as he said

"whoa! Satan Videl, any relation to Satan Hercule, winner of the 24th tenkaichi budokai?"

he deliberately left out the slayer of cell part of the title, since, for one, that period of time contained one too many bad memories, and two, although nobody knew it, it was him who killed cell, not Satan Hercule.

""Yeah, he's my dad. Really? No way!"" they said once again simultaneously.

"What's going on?" Erasa asked Sharpner, a close friend of hers and Videl's.

"Something about there dads fighting in that world tournament thing." He said.

Neither of them cared much. They were both, for their own reasons, ogling the physique of the new kid.

"Settle down, class." Said the P.E. teacher,

""yes sensei"" said the whole class.

"Today, we're going to be trying some martial arts. I would like to introduce you to the concept of tai chi chuan. Follow me outside." They all followed him out a side door.

"first off, lets do a warm up exercise. 50 sit ups, 100 push ups. GO!"

the teacher started his stopwatch. Gohan and Videl were the first ones down for the sit ups. Gohan decided to just keep pace with Videl, and not entirely reveal what he was capable of. They stopped at two hundred, when everybody else was straggling in the thirties. It was clear neither of them were the slightest bit tired, so they decided to make a contest of it. They hoisted themselves up on the balls of their hands, brought themselves up on one finger, and began doing vertical push ups at maximum speed. This is slightly more difficult than normal push ups, and takes a lot more balance and concentration, so they only managed to pull off 200, but, clearly not tired, they flipped back over, and continued their race, doing ten laps around the track to finish up their time. Gohan was not the slightest bit tired, and it appeared neither was Videl. She gave him a competitive smile, and they went to join the class, racing back as hard as they could.

Videl actually gave gohan a run for his money on the way back, until he kicked in his true speed, however modified it was, so he only stayed a few feet ahead of her, running backwards, the whole time. When they reached the rest of the class, it was clear to gohan just how strong Videl was.

'She's three times as strong as that blowhard dad of hers was at the cell games. That makes her almost twice as strong as my mom, making her the strongest woman on the planet. With not too much training, she could be as strong as Krillin, or even Piccolo.'

"Wow. I don't know anybody who can move that fast, outside of my close family and friends. How long have you been training for?"

"since my mother died when I was nine. You?"

"I was five when I started training with piccolo."

"Who's piccolo?"

"He taught me for the first few years of my fighting life, after my father di– went away. My father trained me when he came back though."

"Where are these guys? You must be one hell of a fighter, and if they trained you, I'd love to meet them."

"Well, piccolo's kind of, green–"

"what, he's ill?"

"No. just green. And my father, he died in the cell games." Gohan's voice dropped. This was clearly a tough topic for him. Videl put a hand on his shoulder.

"He must have been very brave to fight cell, not to mention strong, if he won the 23rd world tournament."

"Yeah… dad was the greatest."

Gohan got his smile back. The time was now up, and the teacher began.

"now then, since we're done with warm ups, let's try a little tai chi, shall we? I have to admit, I've never tried this before, but I have been informed that one of you has, if they'd be so kind as to demonstrate?" both gohan and Videl stepped forward.

"mr. son, I was not aware you did tai chi. I was speaking of Videl, but, if you'd also care to join in the demonstration…"

'I think this should be fun just to watch.' Thought gohan, "no thanks. I think I'll just stay back and watch."

He turned to Videl, "If I see any mistakes in your form, though, I'm sure I could help you out with them."

If anyone else had said this, Videl would've broken their nose, but, in their brief time together, it was clear that gohan said this purely as one warrior to another. She smiled and nodded. She was slightly nervous, for two reasons. Running, push ups and sit ups were one thing. You couldn't very well mess up, unless you tripped on a rock and fell flat on your face. Martial arts was a matter of perfection, though, and she hadn't practiced tai chi in almost two years. She didn't know how much she could remember. Nonetheless, she began.

When she started, she kept her eyes concentrated on her fellow warrior, focused on being absolutely perfect in form. She was amazed when she felt his confidence in her radiate from him, giving her confidence in her abilities.

'wow. She's really good'

somehow, Videl thought she heard gohan speak, but his lips never moved. She stumbled, startled. She almost fell, but somehow, although he was seven feet away, standing with his arms folded, she found herself caught in his arms, as he steadied her and brought her back to her feet.

"That was really good, but you lost focus at the end."

She knew what she was going to sound like, but she had to ask anyway.

"Maybe if I had someone to mirror me…"

she heard immediate giggling from the background. His smile said it all, but his voice reiterated anyway.

"sure."

She watched as he began, lost in his own world, he did more than just mirror her. In any normal circumstance, he would have put her to shame: his movements were fluid and perfect. His timing was excellent. He seemed to move as if an invisible tide were pushing him, yet he pushed back with the same force, and still managed to keep his movements fluid. Videl was awed, and, normally, would have been humiliated by him upstaging her, but, somehow, he wasn't upstaging her. She found herself caught up in his movements. She moved with the same kind of flowing grace that emanated from his form. It was as if his movements willed her into the same pattern. The crowd was in awe. When they finished, they demonstrated the form in pieces, so the class could begin to learn it. The teacher was so impressed, that afterwards he brought them in to his office. This gave them some time alone to talk, since the teacher had to see the students back.

"So, gohan, what's with the extra appendage?"

"Oh, the tail? Genetic anomaly. My dad had one too, and he passed the trait on to me. He had his surgically removed, since they grow back if you just cut them off, but that was too much of a hassle for me, so I left it there. It hasn't grown back since my dad died, and I'm kind of surprised it's back. Not that I'm not glad. It adds to my balance, which makes it far easier to perform martial arts. I know it makes me look like a freak, but my friend Bulma says it also enhances my neurochemical balance, so it increases my adrenaline, and my serotonin, so it makes me feel less nervous to have it around. It's like a living security blanket that's attached to me."

"It is kinda weird, but I don't mind. I think it actually looks kind of cool"

'actually, it looks kind of hot – where did that come from?' thought Videl.

"Thanks. So, did your father teach you tai chi?"

'As if I don't already know he couldn't teach a _goldfish_ anything _it_ didn't already know'

"Naah. He was always too busy making himself stronger, and he never had time. He has to be ready to save the world if trouble ever arises again. He trains in secret, and somehow, he even knows when I come to see him, and he never lets me see him train. Whenever I come in, he's just watching TV. It's amazing, he doesn't even break a sweat. He says he trained his body to respond perfectly to his mind, so he never sweats."

'Yeah, right. That blowhard couldn't do that if it was to save his own life.' A sudden stab of anger hit gohan,

'and he wouldn't do it, even to save yours, the cowardly bastard. He'd probably sell his own grandmother's soul if it would win him more good publicity.'

Despite these thoughts, he was one of the few who _could_ make his body respond perfectly to his mind's wishes, and he never showed his anger. He simply put on a smile of fake awe.

"Wow. Your dad must be a really cool guy."

Videl looked despondedly at her shoes.

"I guess so, but, he never has time to spend with me."

'I bet the faker spends more time in front of the camera than with his own daughter.' Thought gohan,

"sometimes, it's like he spends more time in front of a camera then he does with me. Every once in a while I look at some of the old home videos my mom made, before she died. He missed everything from my fifth birthday on. That was the year when he won the budokai. Then, when my mom died… he got even more distant. He didn't always have such a big ego. My mom usually kept it down in him."

She smiled brightly, a smile which reminisced of brighter times, something which nearly knocked gohan off his feet at her beauty.

"It's funny. No matter how strong he got, my mom could always temper his ego. She could always calm him down… make him more my daddy…"

she blushed suddenly. This son gohan had the ability to make her let down her guard far too easily. She would have to be careful from now on, even if he was cute – even if he could be the one she would spend the rest of her life with.

"But why am I boring you with these silly memories? You've already got enough to deal with, since _your_ dad died."

Gohan caught her in his embrace, pulling her into a friendly hug, surprising both Videl and himself. When Videl realized what he was doing, she held him just as fiercely. When they pulled apart, gohan looked away.

"Sorry. You just looked like… you know, you needed a hug. I guess since I've been away from people my own age since I was seven, I don't really know what it's like not to help when someone looks like they need a hug."

She put a hand on his shoulder,

"thanks. I really did need a hug, and it's good to be able to talk to someone who lost a parent too." She reached over and kissed him lightly on the cheek, once again surprising them both, but it just seemed like the right thing to do.

"You know something, son gohan? I think we're going to become good friends."

He smiled warmly at her. After more than a few seconds of smiling and staring deeply into each other's eyes from only about a foot away, they realized this was not a good position for two people who just met to be in, but it just felt too good for them to break from the others eyes. Unfortunately for the kiss that was just being conceived between them, the gym teacher came in, causing a spontaneous abortion, and ending the kiss's young and all too short life. They fumbled with their composure, and finally managed to stop blushing.

"Now then, you two. I have been informed that the remainder of the year will be a unit of martial arts, and, since it is apparent that there is nothing I can teach either of you in that subject, and you can learn much more from each other than from me, I have decided to give you leave of the class, to pursue your betterment in the martial arts together for the remainder of the year. If, of course, that's okay with you two."

""oh, yeah, sure! That would be great!"" they said together, a little bit too enthusiastically for two fighters who just met.

"Okay… you'll start tomorrow."

"I know the perfect place to train." Said gohan. "If, of course, you don't mind getting there by air."

"Where?" gohan got a look of determination on his face.

'I haven't been there since. It's time I faced the memories and beat them, just as I beat cell.' "The site of the cell games."

The next day, they hopped into Videl's jet, and flew to the site. It took them all of four minutes by jet, since it was not far from Hercule city, but just far enough that running there would take all period. When they arrived, Videl looked over at gohan.

"now, tell me. Why here?"

"one, it's a place in which we both have to face both physical challenge and bad memories. It is the ideal challenge, and, I felt I would have to face this place sooner or later. Two, I wanted to be in a place where we could train in peace, with no interruptions."

This could have been interpreted as a come on, but, considering how serious gohan had become, she knew that was not the case. They got out of the jet, Videl re-capsulated it, and gohan took his fighting stance.

"Wow. You sure are eager to get your ass kicked, huh?"

"I guess so."

She charged at him. He dodged lightning quick, and appeared two inches to the left of her. He sent a swift punch at her gut, which stopped just before impact.

"I win." He said.

She grabbed his fist, and flipped him over her shoulder. While he was up in the air, she aimed a kick at him, stopped just before impact, only to realize there was nothing to impact with. Gohan had disappeared.

"gohan?"

he was behind her now, moving silently, attempting to prepare a roundhouse to her head, when she turned, crouched down, leaped forward, grabbed his arms, put her foot in his chest, and propelled herself over his shoulders in a back flip, landing as gracefully as a swan alighting onto water. Gohan was quite surprised, but he had never let that distract him before. He lunged using super speed, slowed as he reached her, and aimed a swing at her shoulder. She caught it, and repelled it. He was moving slow enough for her to do this, but was getting faster by the moment.

He wanted to test her strength of will, her want to succeed. She parried and blocked every one of his punches up until he had almost tripled his speed. They were now moving at a speed that was barely visible to the untrained eye. Sure, they could still be seen, but there arms and legs were a blur. He was even more surprised when she then boosted her ki up a notch when he managed to get a punch in. he now increased his speed again, and increased his strength as well. His speed and strength testing allowed him to gage her at around three times his mother's strength, when fighting her hardest.

'I never would have known. I don't think she even knows she disguises her ki. she just does it naturally.'

These impressed thoughts interrupted his concentration, and he fell to a punch that, despite the fact that it could put a hole through a brick wall, left him only mildly fazed. Videl smirked, and in his mind, even a smirk looked good on her.

"I guess I win."

Gohan got up, shaking his head in awe, as Videl checked her watch.

"Shit! We're going to be late for next period! Even if we get back before the bell, we'll never have time to change."

"Hold on. I can fix this." Gohan said, and tried a telepathic knockout technique piccolo had taught him. He wasn't sure if it would work on Videl. It was easiest to use on weak minds, and otherwise took up a lot of psychic energy. Fortunately, gohan never used his psychic energy, so, despite the fact that he used up all of it on Videl, and only sent her into a dazed state, and not unconscious, it didn't really mean much. He caught her before she fell to the ground, and instant transmissioned them both back to school. They arrived behind the tree where he had eaten lunch the day before, and he release his hold on her mind. She became alert immediately.

"Hmm, what happened?"

"You must have exhausted yourself training. You hit the ground like a rock, and I had to fly the jet back."

"You can fly a jet?"

"It wasn't as hard as it looked when I watched you. After watching you do it, and having some knowledge of the affects of gravity and wind resistance, I flew back pretty well, but I had to do something risky to land. I jumped out of the plane seventy feet up, and re-encapsulated it by remote while falling. The tail thing made it easier to stand up after the fall, but I'm still a little woozy. I hit the ground pretty hard, but you weren't hurt, thankfully."

She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"I'm glad you're not hurt too."

Just then, the bell rang.

"Damn. How long were we in the air? If the bell is just now ringing, we must've missed all of 7th period."

"I don't think so. I checked your watch when we hit the ground, and it's exactly five minutes before the beginning of 7th period."

Videl checked her watch. "No kidding! Okay… twilight zone moment."

"We'd better get to class."

They ran off. They both had the same classes, so they got to there next class on time at the same moment.


	3. Chapter 3

Two weeks later

Gohan had, since the beginning of school, been refraining from eating lunch, due to his saiyan eating habits, and was simply eating three times as much at dinnertime. He was sitting with Videl and her friends, a few minutes before lunch. They all had the same class last period, and had been let out early.

"Hey! Gohan." Said Erasa, as she joined him, Videl, and Sharpner under the tree where they sat.

"How come you never eat lunch with us?"

"Well… I'm what you'd call a voracious eater. You know the school cafeteria?"

"Yeah,"

"well, if I wasn't afraid the food would eat me first, I'd clean out the entire place of a year's supply of food in four minutes."

"bullshit." Said Sharpner.

He liked gohan well enough, but his strength, combined with his lack of social confidence made it harder for Sharpner not to both envy him, and want to pick on him. In his younger years, Sharpner was a bit of a snob. Then he met Videl and Erasa. Despite having been a snob, Sharpner was not particularly wealthy, and when he met the two girls, both of whom _were_, they taught him to realize that being wealthy didn't mean being a selfish asshole, and he had changed himself for the better for the sake of being friends with them. He still had trouble keeping from being his snobby old self sometimes, though.

Gohan, for once more confident in himself, took this as a challenge.

"Alright. You think you can eat more than me then? Or are you watching your girlish figure."

"Hey! I so can eat more than you!"

"alright then, a digestive dual to the death it is. Videl, Erasa, know any good all you can eat buffets? I think I'm in the right mood to put one out of business."

"There's one just down the street, actually. It's a big spot for the students, so don't go eating them out of town, okay?"

"Alright. I guess I'll just have to settle for eating you out of town." He eyed Sharpner with false ire.

"Your goin' down, tail boy."

The four friends left their spot by the tree, and raced each other to the place. It was only a block and a half from the school, so it wasn't too much of a hard race, Erasa wasn't too slow, and Sharpner was relatively athletic, so the four just kept pace with each other. They reached the place two minutes later.

"okay. Videl, Erasa, you two are our referees. The challenge – to pile as much food on one plate as possible, eat it as fast as possible, and go back for more. since we only have one period, lets say first one to fifty plates wins."

Even though Sharpner knew he couldn't make fifty plates of food, he didn't think gohan could either, so he was confident. He was also counting on gohan barfing on Videl during their training during p.e., which was next class, thoroughly humiliating himself, that way, even if Sharpner lost, he would win. No offence to the kid – he liked gohan, but when it came to competition, this meant war.

They stood at the starting line, and Videl grabbed a napkin from a nearby table. The tension in the air was so great, it could be cut with a knife. She stood between and slightly in front of the two young men, and gracefully dropped the napkin. When it hit the ground, they went running. Gohan knew Sharpner couldn't beat him when it came to eating, so he decided not to use super speed to win this battle of the bulging gut. He would take his time. After all, he had plenty of it. One period was going to be more than enough time for the young half saiyan to beat fifty plates, and thusly, simply kept pace with Sharpener's food piling. He did have the advantage in balance, however, and managed to pile twice as much food on his plate than did Sharpner. When they reached the table, gohan merely waited for Sharpner to finish half his food, before going at his. Sharpner was slightly unnerved when gohan just sat there, but time was of the essence. He dug in. when he had gotten halfway through, he saw gohan begin at his. Gohan's chopsticks whirled with such speed, they were a blur. In mere seconds, gohan was finished, and off for his second plate. Sharpner knew that he was beaten, but he would not walk away from the fight. He finished, and chased after gohan. Gohan returned a few seconds before Sharpner, and scarfed down the new plate. Twenty minutes later, Sharpner collapsed into his fifteenth empty plate, and gohan, on his thirtieth, just kept going. Another seven minutes, and gohan had hit fifty. When he was done, Sharpner looked up, moaning sickly and clutching his stomach.

"Looks like I win." Gohan said contentedly.

"the only problem is, I'm still hungry."

"um, sir?" said a young waitress, tapping him on the shoulder.

"here at the seven star buffet, we have a record of seventy-five plates in one sitting. If you can break that record before the end of the hour, this and you and your friends' next meal are free."

"how long have I got?"

"Eighteen minutes." Said Videl.

Gohan turned back to the waitress. "How 'bout I double the record, make it 150 plates, and we eat free for three visits after this one?" the waitress turned to her manager. The manager smiled knowingly. Despite the title of an all you can eat buffet, going over 25 plates makes each plate run a cost of 6 dollars. The original price is 12 dollars per adult. Even if gohan had eaten enough food for a whole full house Saturday night, they would still make more of a profit, since the manager was sure he was close to full, and would never make it to 150.

"alright, but on one condition. Double or nothing. One less than 150, and you pay the bill." Gohan smiled knowingly.

"deal."

He zoomed off at hyper speed. Thirteen minutes later, he finished, and decided to kill off the remaining time by making it to 200. He signaled for the girls, still his referees, to count the plates, and he continued. He finished his 200th plate just as they finished counting.

"199, 200!" Videl punched him in the shoulder.

"What the hell are you, some kind of man from outer space?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." He said, smiling.

The manager had stopped smiling, and was now crying. "I'm ruined, ruined!"

gohan felt sorry for the man, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't close up shop just yet. I'll come by tomorrow with the cost of our food, plus interest. What was the price? 1212 zeni? Let's make it an even 1500, and I'll stop by tomorrow with it. I don't have the money now, but trust me, you'll have it by the same time tomorrow."

The man looked up, and smiled. He didn't know why, but the sincerity in the boy's voice made him trust him.

"Thank you. Since you've agreed to pay, despite the bet, I suppose I owe you some kind of prize. I know!"

he ran into the back, and returned with a small orange ball, with seven red stars on it.

"I found it about a year ago, when I was still looking for a place for my restaurant. It brought me luck, over the past year, so I named my restaurant after it. I want you to have it, as a token of my gratitude for breaking our bet, to keep me in business."

Gohan had to admit, he was surprised to find the seven-star dragonball here, but he obliged, and took it carefully. Even though he knew the dragonballs were nearly indestructible, he held it with the same careful reverence that the manager of the restaurant did.

"Thank you."

He put it in his knapsack, tucked it carefully where it would not get lost, and they exited the restaurant. When they got outside, Sharpner collapsed.

"Let me help you up."

Gohan hoisted Sharpner over his shoulder like a gunny sack, and turned to Videl.

"Wow, after eating all that food, I could sure do with some exercise! How about a race back to the school, Videl?" Videl, who had only nibbled a small amount, was sure she could outrun him, but, usually if people run just after eating, especially if they've just eaten such a large amount, they get sick. However, they only had 3 minutes to get back before classes started, and they would need to drop Sharpner off at the nurse before hand, so they would have to run.

"okay."

Erasa, who, despite the fact that she couldn't run as fast as the two warriors, also didn't have to carry Sharpner, and could make it to class on time, so she wasn't worried, and sent them off.

"On your mark… get set… GO!"

they shot off like rockets. Videl had gotten much stronger, even over the course of two weeks training, and now could run about half as fast as an un-powered up Krillin. Gohan watched her as he ran backwards, dodging obstacles he couldn't even see with unbelievable ease. When they reached the school, Videl had given her complete all, and for once, was sweating, her chest heaving. Gohan had watched in amazement as she kicked in her real speed, powered up, still not knowing what she was doing, and boosted to ¾'s Krillin's normal running speed. He was amazed she could get so much stronger so fast. They reached the school two out of their three minutes early, and dropped Sharpner off in the nurse's office, before heading off for the gym.

When they went to training that day, gohan said,

"Now, I saw what you can do when you ran back there. I want you giving your all this time around."

"Isn't that what I always do?"

"Yes, but you've gotten much stronger over the past two weeks. I want you to harness that strength to its fullest. Pull out all the stops. Don't worry about me. I can handle whatever you throw at me."

They trained for the full amount of time, Videl really pulling out the stops, just as gohan had suggested. She pulled out so many stops, in fact, that by the end of the fight, she was exhausted. Gohan hadn't let her hit him once. He knew she had a hidden strength she was holding back. Something that would allow her one shot at him, before completely tiring her out. He blocked what seemed to be her final attack, and she stumbled. He knew, as tired as she was, that moment of strength was rising in her. It was close to surfacing.

They were moving again. As tired as she was, she ran with him. He drew her to a rock outcropping. Gohan recognized the place. This was the area where Videl's father had come to hide and watch the fight. As if to prove his point, caught under a nearby rock, was a torn white cape. Hercule's cape. He ignored the flashback to seeing the coward step out with the head of 16, the noble android who had given his life to save gohan, and then given his last words to gohan for the same reason. Those words, and the sacrifice he had made, helped gohan reach super saiyan 2, and allowed him to defeat cell. The deeds that followed in his memories struck him with guilt. The death of his father, due to his arrogance – his hesitation. He blocked these memories out. He had to concentrate on the fight. he had been having these little flashbacks since they first came to the sight. After the huge crater the final blast had left was removed by a wish on the dragonballs a few years later to repair the damage done to the earth over the years, everything had been returned to its state of being before the fights that occurred there. The crater wasn't entirely gone. The super saiyan energy used to create it had proved too powerful for even Shenron to repair, but, they decided, the remaining hole, about twice the size of the ring that was once at it's center, should remain, a memorial to those who died in the fight with cell.

However, the area where the two now trained was repaired by the dragon's power, and remained as a different memorial. Gohan's eyes narrowed at the thought. This was the stone where the coward had hidden for the entire fight, before taking credit for all that Gohan's father had fought to accomplish. This was a memorial to the cowardice of Hercule. His anger made him strike a blow just a little bit too hard, and Videl's block was repelled, sending her flying. He sped up behind her, catching her mid fall.

"sorry. I guess my mind was just on something else."

Videl rubbed her bruised arm. when gohan saw the bruise redden, for it was still to early for it to go black and blue, he felt a surge of guilt, and self loathing.

'I hurt her. What have I done? How can I forgive myself?'

she could tell he was beating himself up inside. She put a hand on his shoulder.

"it's okay. I'm fine. you didn't really hurt me."

"it doesn't matter if it's a small wound or a big one." He looked at his hands, clenched them into fists, and tore his eyes away from them in hatred for what they were capable of. "What these hands can do… they have never been capable of creation. They destroy, or sit idle, watching something else do their work for them. If ever I have used them for good, they only destroyed evil. Over the years, before and after my father's death, I taught myself to use them to protect – myself, my family, those I love… but they can never simply protect. These hands, fueled by my rage, seek to obliterate the threat. They can never form a peaceful solution, no matter how hard they try. No matter how hard _I _try."

He began walking away. She hesitated.

'this place must really hold bad memories for him. I wonder… did he fight in the cell games too? No. he was too young, the same age as me. He couldn't have… wait, that boy on the video. He looked like a younger gohan… but he had gold hair and turquoise eyes. But so did gohan, in my dream. Could it be?'

she shook her head when she noticed gohan was fast leaving the limits of her line of sight. She ran after him.

One thing puzzled her as she ran. Gohan, despite his strength, was purely a pacifist. He hated fighting for anything other than sport. He had told her so. Where did all this guilt come from? It was as if he had killed too many people to count, and bore the mantle of guilt. Other times, it simply seemed he bore the weight of the world on his shoulders.

'I hope there comes a day when I can give him some comfort – a day when he'll share that weight with me. When he'll lov– whoa! Where did that last bit come from?'

she had a feeling, that, at this point, his misery would be inconsolable, so she figured she would just have to distract him from it.

"Hey gohan!" she tackled him, or at least tried to. He never hit the ground, just stood still, her arms about his shoulders. He turned to look at her, his eyes sad. She could nevertheless see the spark of happiness in his eyes at seeing she had come after him, as well.

"We never finished our training."

"Are you sure you're okay to continue?"

'he acts so concerned.'

"Of course!"

she broke from him, feeling a sudden stab of sadness at not feeling direct contact with him.

'Okay… so maybe I am crushing a little bit.' She thought, as they both took fighting stances.

Without warning, he rushed her. She sidestepped, swiping down at his collar bone area as he passed her. He turned mid stride, blocked the blow, and used his other hand for an underhand punch, intended to knock her back. She brought her free hand down, contorting herself into an awkward position, and blocked the punch. She spun free of their vertical twister game, agile and graceful as a cat, and performed a roundhouse kick. He dodged, and she feinted to the left. It was a fantastic move; because of her natural ability to manipulate her ki, she sent her ki signal in the direction of her feint, and snapped forward a moment later, knocking gohan flying.

'An unexpected and very good tactic.'

And yet, it was not her hidden power. That remained locked away. He was closer to it now, but it was still a faint whisper of what her real potential was. It was now time to leave. True to his word, gohan stopped by the restaurant the next day, and dropped off the money.


	4. Chapter 4

One month later

'Of all the weekends!' thought gohan.

He had been invited to a circus by Videl and her friends this weekend, and he had been forced to decline, all because of some dumb shopping trip.

"Bulma and I need you to watch Goten and trunks. And besides, you and Vegeta have to carry our baggage for us. With the amount of things we're buying, we're going to need two super saiyans to carry it all!" his mother had said.

They had giggled like little girls then. Right now, gohan was annoyed, but then, seeing his mother smile, he had had little choice in the matter. His mother was happy so little, in the seven years since Goku's death. So, here he was, in Hercule city, not three minutes away from where his friends were meeting at the circus.

'not a chance of leaving Vegeta with these two monsters. Even if I did give him the slip, and even though I can conceal my power level beyond his ability to sense it, he'd still probably hunt me down and kill me."

He smiled inwardly, as outwardly, he attempted to balance twelve shopping bags in one hand, while preventing the two said 'monsters,' Goten and trunks, from pummeling each other.

"Uh, Vegeta… a little help here?"

"oh no, Brat. I'm staying out of the babysitting business – I think I'll just keep my mind on balancing these packages."

"gee, thanks, Vegeta."

Gohan suddenly got a mischievous idea. While keeping the terrible half saiyan duo from attacking each other with his feet, he fired a small, nearly undetectable ki blast at the top of the pile of packages Vegeta carried. Before Vegeta could react, the entire contents of his arms was toppled.

Vegeta saw the small energy blast all too late, and even as he made to kill gohan, Bulma clouted him in the back of the head, and it was his turn to topple like so many packages.

"I don't understand it, woman! How can you be so strong, and yet have such a low power level?"

Bulma, if only for a moment, stopped being angry that Vegeta had dropped her packages, and giggled.

"I guess it's just that the female of the bond mate pair is naturally stronger when controlling her arrogant, clumsy male counterpart!"

"Gods, woman, if it weren't for the brat knocking them out of my hands with that ki blast, I wouldn't have dropped your bloody packages, now would I have?"

at hearing this, chi chi was on gohan in a moment.

"Ow! Mom!"

"Gohan! You know those were Bulma's bags, and just because you want to get back at Vegeta doesn't mean you can do it at the expense of someone else!"

gohan quieted down after this lecture, and bowed his head in shame.

"Sorry mom. Sorry Bulma…"

trunks and Goten had stopped their bickering for the moment to snicker respectively at a humbled gohan, and a certain saiyan prince, defeated by his human mate. Vegeta noticed his son and the son of his rival.

"hey, you two! Shouldn't you be causing havoc somewhere, instead of standing there laughing like a bunch of fools!"

"Hey! You're right! Thanks dad. Come on, Goten!" and the duo sped off at top speed in some other yet undecided direction.

"Crap! Nice going Vegeta! Now we've got to chase those two, on top of carrying the packages!"

"What do you mean, 'we?'"

gohan had already sped off in the direction of the power levels of two particular half saiyan monsters, and never heard Vegeta's last remark.

'Dammit, Vegeta, why'd you have to teach trunks the afterimage technique? He taught it to Goten, and now, they're flitting about so fast, and their power levels are down so low, it's gonna take me an hour to get a hold of them.'

Gohan stood still in mid air. He focused his senses all into his ki sense. The two were moving all over the city in a seemingly random pattern, but gohan knew better than to believe it random. In order to use the afterimage technique, you had to have some idea of where you're going, or at least which direction you want to travel in. in the case of Goten and trunks, it was the latter. Suddenly, gohan felt his brother's ki stop in its tracks, and slowly rise to an unconcealed level. Well, not entirely unconcealed – all warriors conceal their ki somewhat by instinct.

'Odd,' thought gohan.

Trunks' ki shortly followed in Gotens' footsteps. Not one to waste time, gohan instant transmissioned to their location.

"Goten, what's the big deal?"

trunks was prodding Goten in the shoulder, as Goten stood in awe of the sight in front of him.

'Oh, crap.' Thought gohan.

The circus. If he managed to pry Goten away from such a sight, it would be a miracle. He understood why, too. He had only seen a circus once before, what with living in the wilderness and training all the time, so it was almost as hard for him to focus as it must be for Goten. He was about to pull the two half saiyans away by the ears, when he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey Gohan!"

gohan sighed. He supposed this encounter was inevitable. He was hoping Videl wouldn't have to meet Goten on a day when trunks was over. When Goten was alone, most people considered him to be adorably innocent and kind, but with trunks, they were a terrible twosome of the worst kind.

"oh, hey Videl. Where are Sharpner and Erasa?"

"Oh, they kind of both got sick off that Italian food yesterday. They couldn't come. I wasn't planning on coming alone, but I just had this feeling that you would be here, despite your canceling. My only question is why, if you're here, did you cancel?"

"well, I had to be a pack mule for my mom and her friend Bulma while they shopped, and I had to baby-sit these two monsters at the same time."

Videl looked at him quizzically.

"gohan, what two monsters?"

not even bothering to look, gohan could already sense trunks and Gotens' absence.

"oh, crap."

He quickly grabbed Videl's arm, and sped off in the direction of the circus, being careful not to hurt her by pulling her arm out of its socket.

"gohan, what's going on that's so important that you need to rip my arm off!"

"oh, sorry. Its my brother. I'm only here in Hercule city because my mom is here on a shopping trip. I'm essentially the pack mule. But, I'm also here to baby sit my brother, and he and his friend trunks just disappeared. I have a hunch they're in the circus, but I'm not sure."

In fact, they were no longer concealing their power levels, so he could tell exactly where they were, but he couldn't tell her that.

"normally, my brother's harmless, but when he's with trunks, they can be more destructive than a hurricane!"

"oh, come off it. How much trouble can two little kids cau– " she was cut off by a loud crash from behind the circus tent.

"never mind."

They dashed away. What they found on the other side of the tent was Goten standing in a fighting stance. He seemed to be protecting something behind his back. His face was stern, and concentrating, as he watched the surrounding circusfolk, clearly getting ready to fight this nine year old with the warrior's scowl, if it meant getting what was behind his back. Trunks, meanwhile, was trying to edge his way out of the fight. gohan, knowing that though the circusfolk couldn't stop Goten, Goten could certainly harm them, was more worried about their well-being than his brother's. he leapt into the air, landed on one hand on the head of one of the two "giants," beckoned for Videl to follow, and continued his leap, landing next to Goten.

"Goten! What're you– " he then saw what Goten was protecting. "Chobi?"

Videl landed next to him.

"what's with the dinosaur?"

"This is Chobi. He's a close family friend of ours, and it looks like this circus kidnapped him."

"gohan, who's the pretty girl? Is she some kind of angel?"

Videl blushed profusely at such an unknowing compliment. Goten then got a big grin on his face.

"is she your _Girlfriend?_"

now gohan and Videl both blushed.

"no. Goten, this is my friend Videl. Videl, this is my brother, Goten. Trunks! Get over here!" he called to the purple haired boy,

"did this circus try to kidnap Chobi?" trunks and Goten both nodded.

"well we can't have that, can we? Trunks, Goten, you guys get Chobi out of here. _And don't fly" _he said more quietly, so Videl, busy keeping the carnies at bay with a furious scowl, couldn't here him

"_Videl doesn't know we can, and I'm not ready to show her yet, okay?"_

the two young half saiyans nodded, and sped off with determined looks in their eyes, and a little dinosaur between them.

"so your brother, and his friend, they're martial artists, at that age?"

"yup, and they're almost as strong as me, to boot!"

"wow… well, no time to dwell on awe. We'd better dispatch these carnie thugs, huh?"

"right!"

gohan sped in, and landed a roundhouse to one of the giants heads. He was knocked out instantaneously. He spun to the next foe, a midget with a lion tamers whip. He proved slightly harder to bring down, partly because he was far faster and stronger than the giant, and partly due to his low center of gravity. It was nothing gohan couldn't handle, but he had learned early never to under or overestimate someone because of their size. He then turned to Videl.

"just don't use your full strength. You may not think it, but you're a lot stronger since our training sessions, and you might not yet know your strength."

"gotcha!" Videl said, effortlessly turning a punch she didn't see coming.

In seconds, they had finished with the whole group, when out of the back of the tent comes the ringleader.

"well, well, well. I must say, I am impressed. But tell me, do you ever wonder where circuses and carnivals get their freaks?"

"okay… interesting way to start a conversation… but I'll bite. Where?"

"from Me! Ha ha hahaha ha ha ha!" he picked up the lion tamers whip from the fallen dwarf, and cracked it.

"you see, when I was young, I was apprenticed to the famous geneticist Dr. Flappe! I learned all his secrets, and have used them to create…" he cracked the whip again, and the folds of the tent behind him opened, revealing two evilly lit red eyes, followed by a giant tiger's head with goats horns and a lions mane, bats wings, a leopard's body, and a scorpions tail.

"I give you, my chimera!"

"Your _what?_" said Videl, who was rather less familiar with mutated creatures, androids, and aliens, then gohan,

"that's right! A chimera! A mythical creature from beyond the dawn of time, and I alone have had the power to recreate it!"

the ringleader burst into more maniacal laughter.

"my father knew dr. Flappe. He was a robotics engineer, not a geneticist."

"there's where you're wrong, my boy. He was an engineer. He was brilliant with the building of android #8, but when 8 died of "battery failure", Flappe became obsessed with bringing him back, as an organic life form. He felt that that enormous metal monstrosity could not ascend to Otherworld, because he was a machine, so he worked for years, generating a body, and attempting the transfer of the androids mind into it. After hundreds of failures, he hired a young, and, if I may say so myself, brilliant, assistant, who helped complete the old mans work. When all was said and done, I knew all of Flappe's secrets, and I left him with his work, to pursue my own."

"you mean to pursue your own personal gain!"

"if that's the way you would see it." He laughed again. It was not an altogether evil sound, but rather insane, and quite a bit annoying.

"this particular model, chimera #56, was modeled after my wife. She was just so nasty, I figured I'd give her a body that better matched her soul." Gohan ignored this last bit of information. He was busy analyzing his opponents. The chimera, Videl could beat, but the ring leader, he couldn't tell. Either he was concealing his power level, or he was an android, and didn't have one, or worse, he was an organic android, and could choose to conceal his power level completely.

"Videl. You take the chimera, I know you're strong enough. These kind of madmen are notorious for playing god with their own bodies, so I'll take care of the ring leader. I'd prefer it be me he puts in the ground, if either of us."

They both knew this to be an exaggeration, but for Videl, it was a flattering one nonetheless, knowing gohan would put his life on the line for her.

"gohan, just be careful. There's something… off about him."

'so, she can sense power levels, in a way.' He thought.

He spun forward, in turn with Videl's movement, and they each attacked their opponents consecutively. Gohan hadn't had a decent challenge since his last sparring match with Vegeta, and even then, it wasn't the best match, and this match would probably be even less even, so gohan decided to begin with a base strength to keep the match a little more balanced. He swung, and the ring leader dodged, sidestepping the attack. Gohan swung again, not raising his power level. He was going to get information out of this man first, before he beat him. Better to stall, giving Goten and trunks more time to run, than to finish this quickly.

"so, what does your plan for personal gain have to do with kidnapping a baby dinosaur?" he knew asking about the plan would be enough in itself. Bad guys love to monologue.

"simple enough my boy. I am, at the moment, quite rich, but, not rich enough. My plan was to train the dinosaur to be more like its prehistoric ancestors – vicious and terrifying, and then, I would increase it's size, and add on a few of my own pieces for good measure, and voila! A monster I can truly strike terror with. It will take time, and more so now that the little monster was stolen, but my work will be done!" more maniacal laughter.

"have you ever considered what might happen if the man who killed cell tried to stop you?"

"Ha! Hercule? His daughter is no trouble, and I'm sure a man with power such as his would consider it below himself to go after me."

"and what about me?"

"you? Haha ha ha! You're even weaker than Hercule's kid! How could you possibly expect to beat me?"

"because –" gohan began raising his power level.

" –hercule didn't beat cell."

Gohan was talking in a whisper, so Videl couldn't hear him, as his power level was rocketing to the highest it could go without sending pieces of the ground flying. He watched as the ring leader's eyes went wide with terror.

"I did."

Gohan sent a punch at the man at maximum speed and force. He stopped just before the man's face. The man was so scared, he had let down his guard, and his power level was detectable. It was impressive. About level, if not slightly higher than Krillin's. gohan extended two fingers at hyper speed, and sent the man flying head first into the tent. He lowered his level, and turned to see Videl watching him in awe from her position of standing above the unconscious chimera.

When they returned to chi chi and Bulma, the boys had gone to return Chobi to his parents, and chi chi had a thing or two to say on the issue. She began by slapping gohan in the head, and was about to scold him, when, upon seeing the girl she somehow knew to be her future daughter in law, she nearly jumped out of her shoes, but caught herself and got her composure just prior to liftoff.

"and who is this lovely lady, gohan?"

gohan was about to answer, when he saw Videl blush at the compliment, found himself dazed at how beautiful she looked when she blushed, and was unable to keep himself from staring deeply into her blue eyes. Videl obliged by doing the same, until they were interrupted by gohan getting a swat to the back of the head from his mom.

"well, aren't you going to introduce me?"

"oh, sorry mom. Mom, this is my friend Videl. Videl, this is my mother, chi chi."

"hello Videl."

"it's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Son. Gohan has only told me a little bit about his family, but from what he's told me, and from what I've seen from meeting you and Goten, you seem like wonderful people."

"thank you my dear."

Chi chi was obviously flattered by the compliment. She almost never spoke so politely around anyone, so this was something gohan could only guess was her flattered reaction. When they went their separate ways later on, and the son family was flying back to district 439, gohan nearly dropped his mother from three hundred feet up, when she said,

"Videl's such a nice girl. I can't wait for your wedding."


	5. Chapter 5

One month later

Over the school year so far, gohan had become much closer with Videl and her friends, Sharpner and Erasa. He had also been pushing Videl to the limits of her physical training, since having gauged her strength. He was amazed at her almost saiyan potential for getting stronger. In one month, she had increased her power by almost one third. Videl felt great. Besides becoming closer to gohan by the minute, she was getting much stronger, she could tell. She was exhausted every night, but it felt good to sleep after such a hard day's work. Although gohan had yet to tell her the truth about himself, or to teach her to use her ki, she had spontaneously learned to mask its signal before they met, and that ability was getting stronger. She was also learning to power up from her suppressed state of ki, and that also without Gohan's help. Videl was quite right during their first conversation, they had become fast friends, and, at least Erasa and Sharpner thought, they were fast becoming more than friends.

"Today I am going to be assigning you're quarterly assignment." Said their physics teacher.

Gohan had been surprised to learn earlier in the year that he wasn't the only super bright super warrior in Hercule city. Although he was getting straight A's in all classes, and Videl was getting B's in some, she had managed to also be in advanced placement calculus, physics, chemistry, history, and language arts. She also was in his art class, his lab periods, his lunch, Phys Ed, study hall, and study lab periods. He found this to be very fortunate, because it allowed him to train and study with her in his free periods, and he had someone to do his homework with, not to mention someone almost painfully beautiful, so he was never bored.

"You are to write a report on a brief history of a technological advance and it's use of physics to function. Pick partners, and begin over the upcoming week long break. That should be more than enough time, at least for some of my students." He eyed gohan and Videl with a smile. They had become his star pupils over the last month, and had made his class just a little less boring, since they actually asked decent questions.

'This is it.' Thought gohan. 'We're great friends now, but just in school. Asking if she wants to be partners means that could extend beyond school grounds. I know it's just a school project, but what if she doesn't want to be my partner?'

"Hey gohan!" she called out to him as they exited the classroom.

"hey Videl. By the way…"

"How about you and me work together on that project?" she asked his question for him.

'This makes life easier.' He thought.

"Sure!"

"Okay then. Your house or mine?"

""Oooh!"" came a chorus of Sharpner and Erasa from behind them, followed by a bunch of kissy noises. They were silenced by a death promising glare from Videl.

"Well, I'd say yours, since it's closer, but you said your dad hates when you're around boys, so, how about mine?"

she smiled, that was just what she was hoping he'd say. From what he'd told her of his family, she really wanted to see more of them, and she was also hoping to learn something about the mysterious side gohan never revealed. Little did she know she was going to get a glimpse of it that second. She was about to accept, when her attention was drawn away, to something else.

"Hey, punk! I said give us your money!"

"I told you, I don't have any!"

"Well, I guess its off to swirly land then. We were going to let you off with just an atomic wedgy, but, since you're holding out on us, it'll be the swirly then."

The smaller boy was pushed about between the four thugs, as he tried to break free.

"hey!"

Gohan's eyes glazed over with rage, and she saw the flash of blue that she had only seen in her dream.

"who the hell do you think you are? You're clearly older than this kid, and he's quite clearly smaller than you. This is the kind of kid you set a good example for. I haven't the slightest clue what a swirly or a wedgy are, but I can tell by your tone they can't be a fun experience for the one who you're doing it to. So, you've got three seconds to let the kid go, or you'll answer to me."

"you? Ha!"

these kids clearly had skipped school far too often to hear the rumors of Gohan's strength and skill in the martial arts. They still figured on intimidating him into backing off.

"three."

"so prissy miss Satan's little boyfriend is going to stand up for the little guy, huh?"

"two."

"don't make me laugh! Oh, never mind. I'll laugh anyway."

"one and a half."

Gohan was clearly prolonging this for the sake of keeping the thugs from getting their asses handed to them. Ever nonviolent when the threat was not too great, gohan really did want them to back off for their own safety, but he wasn't the least bit opposed to beating the living shit out of them if they didn't heed his words of wisdom.

"Alright boys. Forget the penniless shrimp. Satan's boyfriend looks promising financially. And just think, when we're done with him, we can have our share of the great Hercule's precious little baby."

This set gohan off. Without even getting to one, he was on top of all four of them simultaneously. He knocked the three silent smirkers into the adjacent lockers so hard, they made large body shaped dents in them. Without hesitation, he was two inches from the leader's face. He hoisted him up into the air. When he tried to beg for his life, a swift punch to the gut shut him up.

"Now, listen closely, and don't interrupt. I was not planning on making you into a pulpy puddle, but, you threaten my friends – especially Videl, and you deal with every ounce of my ire. Touch her, or any other that I care for, and I will literally remove your skin, while you watch from you're position in a screaming bloody pool of flesh and bone. Understand?"

the thug was now so scared, and the crowd so silent, everyone could hear the thin trickle of liquid running down his leg, as he cowered in fear. He nodded, and gohan slowly put him down.

"I hope you have a change of clothes, or you're in for a particularly humiliating and rather foul smelling day."

He turned, and stalked off in the direction of his next class. Videl stood there stunned for a few seconds.

'He…cares…for me?'

as frightful as the event was, seeing Gohan's fierce anger and strength in action, she was nonetheless filled with the warmth of protective love she felt from his words. She ran after him. After she left the corridor, life returned to a more normal pace. People went to class, however avoiding the thug lying in the center of the hallway in a pool of his own urine.

"Gohan!" she called as she caught up with him.

He hesitated momentarily, and then continued walking. When she reached him, she turned him around at the shoulders. The look on his face did not shock her. On anyone else, it would have, but somehow, with his gentle soul and secreted past, the look didn't shock her when she saw it on gohan. It was a combination of still simmering rage, shame, and profound sadness.

"Gohan, what's wrong?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"When I was younger… I saw a man being mugged on the street by another man with a knife. I told the man with the knife to stop. I warned him. He refused to listen. He stabbed the other man to death, and turned on me. Had I fought immediately, and not hesitated as I did, I could have saved the man who died. But, I did hesitate, and the man died. My guilt and anger, it drove me to doing something drastic. He came at me with the knife, but his swing was clumsy. I dodged, and I threw a punch. The punch made contact, and the man's neck snapped. I was twelve years old… and I killed a man."

He pounded his fist into a nearby locker, denting it. The story was a rather watered down version of what had happened with cell.

"And I came this close to killing again – but this time, it was an innocent I almost killed. I have no guilt about killing the mugger who stabbed that man, only that I hadn't done it sooner, or that man would still be alive. But I do have guilt about what I almost just did. I knew very well he could do nothing to harm me, but… his words – Dammit! If I had kept my rage under control, no. if I could have kept my years of guilt over the first time from creating that rage in me… I don't know!"

he punched the locker again, and the cement that held it in the wall began to fray and crack.

"I would do any thing to protect you – er, and the others I care for, but I cannot release my restraint over empty threats."

She pulled him into a hug.

"I guess this time it's you who needs a hug, huh?"

he quieted and relaxed in her arms.

"Yeah, I guess so."

When she looked up, he was smiling again. She hugged him again.

"Thank you." She said.

"For what?"

"For letting me know how much you care… for letting me know you're there to help when I need it."

"I'll always be here for you Videl. And I'll always protect you."

They stared deeply into each other's eyes. That kiss that had died so young in the coach's office a month ago seemed to be back from the dead, rising up in their throats, as their faces grew closer together.

It was fortunate they had turned the corner into an empty hallway. Just then, the bell rang, startling them from their thoughts. They broke from their embrace, and that kiss died yet again. This time, the death was slightly more painful, for both of them. They had to get to class though.

"By the way, to the idea of coming to your house to work together on that project, the answer is yes."

"Cool." Said gohan.

It was once again fortunate he knew how to conceal his emotions, because the little people giving him advice inside his head had stopped lecturing for the moment to do a victory dance, and he was tempted to join them.

"and maybe I can even get Bulma to come over, and we can get an interview with the lead scientist and president of capsule corp. their technologies deal directly with dimensional physics."

"Wait a minute, you know Bulma breifs?"

"Yeah," said gohan, scratching his head nonchalantly in the typical son fashion,

"she and my dad were really close when they were kids. She was the one who found him after his grandfather died. They went together to find something to prove to my dad's master that he had the potential to learn martial arts. You met her when we went to the circus, remember?"

"wow. That was Bulma briefs? Cool! Her husband was a bit of a standoffish pig, though."

Gohan laughed.

"what?" Videl asked.

"yes, Vegeta can act that way sometimes."

When gohan got home that day, and asked his mom if Videl could come visit on the weekend, she nearly fainted, and when she woke up, she proceeded to jump around the house screaming "Grandchildren! Grandchildren!" and didn't settle down for a full three minutes, but, when she did, she said yes.

When Friday rolled around, mathematical equations were all gohan could do to quell his nervousness. When asked a question in history class, he accidentally spouted out the solution to an extremely complicated quantum physics formula. The school didn't even have quantum physics, and, had gohan known what he was doing, he would have discovered a far more convenient method of time travel. He was so busy with his thinking, he hardly talked to Videl all day. This, however, wasn't too much of a problem, since Videl was so nervous, she put all her efforts into passing a test she wouldn't have to take until college entry exams. And so, the day went by rather uneventfully, with the exception of the physics teacher breaking another slide rule (he seemed to do this at least once a week, which, Videl said was an improvement. Before gohan came, it was once a day), and some nerd releasing all the dissection frogs, which both gohan and Videl ignored, since neither one wanted to dissect any frogs.

When the day was over, they got into Videl's jet, and gohan gave her directions. She was surprised to realize that Gohan's house was on the very outskirts of east district 439, and there was no way gohan could get to school and function on the two hours of sleep the trip provided him.

"how do you make it to school every day, with a trip like this. It only took us an hour, but by car it would take six or seven! How do you function on the amount of sleep that kind of trip allows?"

"oh… idunno… Hey, look! We're here!"

she let his changing of the subject go. She knew he had his secrets, and she knew this was one of the lesser ones. She would find out in due time, she was sure. When they landed, they got out, and were greeted by Goten and chi chi. Goten pounced on gohan at super speed, knocking him to the ground.

"hey buddy! How was your day?"

"great gohan!"

the young half saiyan looked up.

"cool! Videl's here too. _Is she your girlfriend yet?_" he asked in a whisper too loud for anyone not to hear. Gohan and Videl blushed.

"no Goten. I– "

"at least, not yet." Said Videl, hoping gohan would here the suggestiveness in her voice. If he did, he didn't let it show.


	6. Chapter 6

When they finally did get around to beginning the project, it was almost ten. Goten had begged gohan to play with him at a constant rate for the first hour or so, and when gohan finally gave in, chi chi, who had been drilled on proper procedure and etiquette in dealing with Videl, who still didn't know of Gohan's secrets, pulled Videl aside for some girl talk, so the two brother's could train without worrying about being interrupted. When they returned two hours later, Goten asleep on Gohan's shoulders, obviously exhausted from a hard training session, Videl noticed the affection that passed between gohan and his little brother. She realized that, because of their father's death, gohan had had to become more than just a big brother to Goten. He was a sort of surrogate father, too. It was then time for dinner. Videl was amazed by the sheer quantity that the two brothers' could eat. What gohan had eaten at the restaurant a month ago was nothing compared to what he was eating now.

When they had finished eating, then the real surprise for Videl started. They talked for almost an hour. For someone like Videl, who lived in a mansion, with her father on the road all the time, it wasn't often she had someone to talk to at mealtime. This dinner conversation was amazing. The son family welcomed her into it with open arms, including her in all conversations. She spoke of politics, something which she and gohan apparently knew nothing about, but spoke of anyway. As chi chi had said when Videl apologized for misunderstanding something,

"there's no need for apologies. We speak of politics here only to teach gohan and Goten how to deal with such situations. Everything I know of politics, I learn from Bulma, and several different radio and TV stations. It is always important, in such issues, to have multiple sources of information."

They talked also of training, which chi chi seemed to know a lot more about than she would like to let on, education, and family. On the latter, Videl was most amazed. Unlike when he was at school, here, among family, he spoke of his father almost freely. Some issues, he skirted, but Videl never knew the difference, since they were issues she would not understand, like the abilities of a super saiyan. But, when Goten asked, "Gohan, tell me about dad again." Gohan responded without any hesitation, and with an almost poetic waxing quality to his voice.

"dad was, since there is no better way to put it, amazing. He was the single greatest man I have ever known. He was strong of will, cunning as a warrior, and the kindest father anyone could have. He was not by any means booksmart, yet he carried himself with a kind of unparalleled wisdom. He was a strict teacher, but never unfair, and there was no challenge he couldn't beat, on a full stomach, of course. More than that, he taught me to live by a rule of determination. He taught that, as long as you lived, and still had the belief in yourself, you could succeed, no matter what the odds."

'so that's why gohan is the way he is. His mom is nice, but his dad must have taught him everything, about life and fighting. Never give up. You'd think it was my dad who taught me that rule, but it was my mom.'

The whole dinner lasted a full two and a half hours.

After dinner, they began the project. Albeit, by that time it was 9:30, so they didn't have much time to work that day, but they figured on getting at least a little bit of a head start.

"So, we're doing the project on capsule corp technology, right?" said gohan.

"Yeah, us, and probably two thirds of the entire class."

"Maybe, but ours is going to be the best."

Videl smiled, and they absent mindedly stared into each other's eyes for about a minute, not noticing the lapse in conversation, their heads coming closer together, now inches from each other, and now feet, as chi chi bangs on the roof of the floor below with a broom handle yelling for Goten to ' " get down here this instant or I'll skin you alive, mister!" '. The thoughts of the two teenagers were simultaneously what would have been a loud group of profanity, were it not a thought going on in their heads. Gohan began scratching his head in that very son way, saying,

"Well, I think we'd better get finished for the night, shouldn't we."

"Always the sensible one."

They continued their work for another hour and a half, and turned in at ten o'clock, but not before cliché-dly placing their hands on the same pencil when cleaning up, thereby placing there hands on each others'. They lingered a few seconds, and then pulled away quickly.

Videl got up, and began walking out of the room. She failed to say goodnight for the same reason gohan did the same. She had come to a revelation.

'I'm in love with him.'

'I'm in love with her.'

Thought gohan. Images in his head of leaping up and pulling her into a passionate embrace popped into his head. 'no.' now was not the time.

'At least not yet.'

He remembered Videl had spoken those words a few hours earlier. He hadn't realized at the time their significance. Goten had asked if she was his girlfriend. She had said 'at least not yet.'

'does that mean she loves me too?'

'if it does, don't let her walk out that door without at least saying goodnight!' said his dad's voice inside his head.

'dad! Naah. Probably just my imagination.'

Nonetheless, his dad's disembodied voice was right, and the gap between Videl and the door was closing rapidly. He sped forward silently, catching her hand in his strong, yet gentle grasp.

"huh?" Videl turned.

"Goodnight, Videl."

She smiled, a small amount of her hidden love showing through the barriers of a strong friendship.

"Goodnight gohan."

Up on the planet of the grand kai, where he had been training these past seven years, goku smiled, taking his hand off of king Kai's shoulder.

"Good boy, gohan."

When they awoke next day, at around eight o'clock, they came down stairs, meeting in the kitchen for breakfast. Breakfast, like all meals in a saiyan household, was enormous. Videl was loving her experience at the son home. Everything about it was a parallel to her life. The house was small, cozy, inviting, and warm. Her mansion was huge, empty, intimidating and cold. The family life was much the same. The son family was bright, and happy, with siblings, and a very nice single parent. Her life was one of a father who was always away, and maidservants who only spoke enough of the language to do their jobs, and no more. her father was a kind man to her, but he was hardly ever there. She was having thoughts now, of what it would be like when she joined the son family. Coincidentally, gohan was thinking the same thing. This apparently happened a lot in their private thoughts, although neither knew it.

After breakfast, they worked for about an hour on the project, and then waited, for they had come to the part in which they required an interview with Bulma, who would arrive later that day. They spent the time talking about there lives, and continuing their political discussion "practice." When Bulma arrived with trunks and Vegeta, it was sudden. They were in another part of the house, and heard no jet land, or a car stop, yet in through the door stepped Bulma, trunks, and Vegeta. This was actually deliberate. Gohan knew that although the brief family had any number of jets in their capsule corp capsule index, Vegeta was far too prideful to fly in any way but his own, and trunks did as his father did, so they were flying in via ki power. For this reason, so Videl wouldn't see them land, since gohan wanted to tell her of his secret life himself, gohan had moved the family to a lesser room for the arrival of the briefs family. When the briefs entered the room, upon seeing Goten, trunks sped forward quick as a flash, and attacked with his sword. Goten wasn't even there. He had sped upstairs to grab his own training sword, and was down before anyone noticed he was gone. They clashed swords, again, left, right, parry, screaming with glee over the sound of steel against steel. All the while being yelled at by their mothers not to use swords indoors.

"ya like my new sword Goten? I got it from piccolo, since gohan gave you his from piccolo."

"yeah, it's cool!"

fortunately, they had both been instructed by their parents not to move too fast when Videl was around, so as not to startle her, and they were following that rule, as well as the no-flying rule, pretty well.

Gohan became slightly more alert when the tip of trunks' sword whistled by, inches above Videl's head, and figured enough was enough. He sped in between the two demi-saiyans, forced them away from each other for an instant with a blast of ki-condensed air, moved in the gap, and when they charged forward again, he caught the tips of their blades in each hand. He easily disarmed them both, turning the blades from their grasp, he tossed the two swords lightly into the air, and caught them at the handle, bringing them down in an artful downward sweep.

"tell ya what, boys. If you can wait and not do anything destructive or loud for two hours, I'll take you both out for some real sword training. How does that sound?"

the boys nodded eagerly, and wandered off as quietly as possible, to try and find something non-destructive to do. Gohan ruffled both their hairs playfully as they passed him on their way out of the room.

"So, how is it exactly that capsule tech works?" asked Videl,

"well, it works in a way similar to Sartre's theory, that you think, therefore you are. If you see an object in a place, it is there, but, if you assume that it is somewhere else, whole-heartedly believing it is not there, you will eventually start to lose sight of the object, until it disappears to your minds comprehension. The capsule technology works on the premise that, if an object is there, it may not be there. It – "

she was interrupted by a thought in her head that was not her own:

'could you hurry up, woman! Kakarot's woman is beginning to scare me with this girlish gossip crap!' Bulma smiled.

"I'm coming Vegeta. Don't lose your shirt, at least not until I get there!"

she said out loud, got up, saying they would finish the interview later, and left, leaving the two teens completely bewildered. Neither could possibly know that saiyans had the special ability of bonding with their mates, and that it gave the bond mates a telepathic connection. A few minutes later, they continued the interview, this time with Vegeta watching over their shoulder. When the interview concluded, gohan went off with trunks and Goten, swords in hand, gohan carrying nothing but an apple to snack on, on the trip. When the boys had left, Bulma and chi chi eyed each other, put a hand on each of Videl's shoulders, and led her into the kitchen.

"so, Videl, you do like gohan, don't you?..."

when gohan and the boys arrived on the site in the woods where they normally trained, gohan had already been pushing them to their limit. He went ss2 as soon as he was out of line of sight range of the house, and sped off towards the training ground. The boys went ss2, and followed. He went as fast as he could, and they passed the spot, going clear around the world twice over, the boys pushing themselves as hard as they could to catch up, while he zoomed along at an easy pace, looming just ahead of them. When they finally did arrive on the spot, they immediately attacked him out of aggravation. He just munched on his apple, flew back, caught both the tips of the blades in the two fingers and thumb of his left hand, and easily pushed the blades to the ground, plunging them in to the hilts. He turned to stroll away, as they pulled the blades out. The two half saiyans leapt up, and dove forward with a downward arc. Two inches before the blades reached Gohan's head, he spun around, and sent a ki blast at the blades, and they flew out of the boys' hands.

Gohan finished his apple, tossed it aside, and looked at each boy in turn.

"Go on, go get your swords. Lets get to work."

They began with a meditation exercise gohan had taught himself, surprising piccolo, who said such a technique was near impossible to perfect without years of training, and gohan had mastered it simply by discovering it existed. The technique changed the sword, making the weapon an extension of ones ki. It allowed the blade to participate in many attacks, and made it a far more durable weapon. It also honed the blade to infinite sharpness, when the user wants to make a lethal attack. Afterwards, they practiced their sword form, their stance, and finally, they sparred. When they prepared themselves for their return journey, the boys were so exhausted from Gohan's intense sparring and training, they fell asleep in mid flight, and landed respectively in trees. When gohan found them, they were still asleep, their arms rapped around tree trunks, snoring loudly. Gohan chuckled, picked them both up, and flew off for home.

Meanwhile,

Videl sighed, and wiped the sweat from her brow. Bulma and chi chi had been gone for three hours now. She couldn't believe how this had all started.

"…you do like gohan, don't you?"

"Well, I –" at that moment, there was a large flash, and the entire lower half of the house became covered in dust.

"oh, dear. Chi chi, I am so sorry!" said Bulma, a little too dramatically,

"that was my dust capsule. I was using it to test a new cleaning robot."

"that's okay. Videl, Bulma-and-I-are-going-out-now-I-leave-this-job-to-you. Bye now!"

with that, they exited, leaving Videl to decipher the speedily spoken words. When she realized what chi chi had said, Videl was slightly aggravated that gohan's mom would make Videl clean up her house, without any help. But then she realized that something more important was up, and she had better get the task done as fast and as well as possible. So, now, two hours later, it was done. Videl slumped back, exhausted, into a chair. Just as she did, Bulma and chi chi stepped through the door.

They checked every surface in the house, before coming in with a hot mug of tea. Chi chi handed her the tea, and said,

"now I bet your wondering why we wanted you to clean my house, right?"

Videl nodded. She wasn't truly all that tired, she had more energy, but spending two hours dusting, mopping, and cleaning was more tiring than training in some ways, and so, she was more mentally exhausted from so daunting a task than physically exhausted. Plus, her back hurt from keeping a bent back to inspect everything, throughout the job.

"well, I see it this way. You don't just like gohan. You love him, don't you?"

Videl thought on this a moment. She knew it was true, but she had never told anyone this kind of thing before. Nonetheless, she nodded. Chi chi smiled happily, and patted her on the hand.

"good, dear. And don't worry, I wont tell him. That's your job, once he tells you how much he loves you, of course. But, when I was only a little older than you, I had the same test, to see if I would make a good wife – and don't tell me that if you love him, you're not hoping to marry him some day."

Videl's eyes lit up, despite her tiredness, at the thought of what chi chi was saying.

'this is approval, of me, as a bride for gohan, from his mother!' she thought.

'now all I have to wait for is to know whether or not gohan loves me back.'

"and don't worry, dear. I can tell from experience, and from a woman's intuition, that gohan loves you back. You just have to wait for him to tell you. He's a bit too much of a gentleman, and may wait a few months, but trust me, he loves you too."

Videl's discouraged feeling of 'what if he doesn't love me back' left her, and she leapt into chi chi's arms, giving her the kind of hug a daughter would give a mother.

"thank you chi chi."

"I've always wanted a daughter." Chi chi sobbed happily.

A few minutes later, as they sat at the table sipping tea, gohan stepped in, carrying two lumps of sleeping half saiyan. He gave them a shoosh sign, took the two boys upstairs, and put them to bed. He came downstairs.

"thanks gohan. Vegeta will go get trunks when he returns from training."

Vegeta, when he didn't have the chance to spar with gohan, usually trained alone. When Vegeta returned about an hour later, they had dinner. This meal was bigger still than anything Videl had yet seen. Since none of them had had lunch, it was big, but it seemed that Vegeta ate as much as Goten and trunks combined, and gohan came close to rivaling the amount. During dinner, Vegeta carefully observed Videl, and her interactions. Because of this, gohan carefully observed Vegeta. When the meal came to a close, Vegeta, who had been quiet the entire time, spoke up.

"well, brat, I must say, your choice of a mate isn't all that bad. She'll actually make a halfway decent warrior, with some training, and at least your pups together will be strong, although her father may not be the best influence, being the arrogant blowhard he is." Gohan attempted to make light of the situation, before Videl tore Vegeta's head off.

"that must be a compliment, coming from an arrogant blowhard as bigheaded as yourself Vegeta!"

"hmf." Was all Vegeta could say.

Normally, he would settle such an insult on the field of battle, but gohan was clearly a better warrior, so he decided to cut his losses, and keep his mouth shut, almost.

"well, all I was saying is that she'd make a good mate for you, in spite of her father. Hell, if I wasn't already mated, I might consider her for myself."

This was a clear provocation for both gohan and Videl, but gohan had lived around Vegeta long enough to know how to ignore it. Videl on the other hand, well, she was already riled up from his previous remarks, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. She stood up, ignoring Bulma, who was already scolding Vegeta.

"Why you egotistical, pigheaded, narcissistic bastard! My father may be a little pompous, but I've never met someone so elitist, so self centered! –"

that was as far as she got, as the table was knocked out of the way, and Vegeta threw a punch that could kill Videl in an instant at her. Gohan caught the punch before it extended out to her face.

"That's Enough Vegeta."

He pushed the fist in his grasp down to around waist level, his strength causing small amounts of lightning to crackle around him, his eyes flashing blue again. Vegeta calmed down, and, for once, fear was evident in his eyes, if only for a second. Gohan released Vegeta's fist. Dinner was clearly over. Vegeta went and got trunks, Bulma thanked chi chi for letting them stay, and the briefs family walked off. When they were out of line of sight range, they flew, but they started out walking.

When they left, gohan turned to Videl. Although the anger was gone from his eyes, they were still blue, the air around him still crackling.

"follow me."

He said. He turned and headed off into the woods in the opposite direction of the briefs. She followed, and they soon arrived in a clearing, with two or three trees in the center. Gohan walked up to the nearest tree, and extended a fist. The punch knocked the tree from its roots, and sent it flying. it turned in the direction his fist sent it, and horizontally took down three other trees before hitting the ground and skidding out of the clearing, splintering the other trees. Gohan turned to Videl.

"that was half the strength behind Vegeta's punch back there."

She backed away.

"yes. He would've killed you. It's not below him. Normally, being around people who are at least as strong, or stronger than him keeps him in check, which is why he didn't attack me when I spoke, and Bulma can usually keep him under her thumb, but not always."

"so… you're stronger than him?"

gohan sighed.

"yes, I am. I could wipe out this entire mountain, if I wanted to. You're not much weaker, though, you know?"

"I'm not?"

he lead her to another tree, this one was about twice the size of the one he had hit. It was probably around one hundred years old.

"Alright. Hit it, with all your strength backing your punch."

She looked at him, unsure.

"You can do this. I wouldn't lie to you, would I?"

he wouldn't, so she tried it. She sent her fist flying forward. It hit the tree with a thud, and the tree splintered. She watched in awe and amazement as her fist went through the tree, tearing the enormous trunk asunder. She stepped back.

"I… I did that… but… when I fight people, I always know to keep my strength down, but I… I never knew I was…"

"That strong? Well, you weren't always, but when I first met you, you weren't far from it."

Videl got a determined look on her face.

"But I'm still not as strong as my dad, or even you. I'm going to train with you until I'm stronger than you. Then surely I'll be strong enough to train with my father!"

gohan chuckled. If only she knew. She was, at the moment, nearly one half of Krillin's strength, when powered up. At her strongest, she could probably rival Krillin when powered down. As for her father, her power dwarfed his many times over. They walked back to the house, it now being after dark, gohan used his saiyan eyesight to guide her back to the house. It filled him with joy to hold her hand, even if it was just to guide her to the house. Little did he know, she was feeling the same way.


	7. Chapter 7

The next two days went by uneventfully. They finished their project, and began an intense training regiment, which would leave Videl exhausted to the point of paralysis every night. By here fourth full day in the son house, she had become quite comfortable with all the odd things about being there. The eating no longer repulsed her in the least, and the conversations gave her the greatest feeling of being included in something she had never been included in before. But most of all, the thing that made her most comfortable, most at home, was spending time with gohan.

Ever since that night when Vegeta had almost killed her, Videl had realized that, in spite of her newfound strength, there were beings out there far stronger than her, and, although she could take care of herself for the most part, she was vulnerable. In this sense, gohan made her feel safe. He was her best friend, her closest ally. The interesting thing though, was that gohan made her feel far safer than she felt around her dad. Especially when he was bragging, or telling stories about his fight with cell, he seemed to give off a lacking in self confidence most of all, unlike gohan, who never had to brag, and always seemed to have the greatest measure of self esteem.

In fact, if they weren't already in love, they found themselves falling even deeper for each other. Gohan had made his training sessions with Goten shorter and shorter, and, from Goten's perspective, more and more difficult, so gohan could spend more time training Videl. Or, as gohan thought of it, simply spending more time with Videl. Today, after breakfast, they were trying something new. They were going to attempt swordplay. Gohan took her into a clearing with a huge ironwood tree in the center. Gohan leapt up into the tree's branches, and snapped off one heavy great sword size one, and one smaller, around the size of a Viking sword. Nobody knew what a Viking was, for swords came from a time before the great forgetting, but gohan had made her learn the basic vocabulary before she could train in swordsmanship. Goten's training sword was a gladius, trunks' sword was a basic short sword, and some other kinds of swords were scimitar, broad sword, saber, katana, and two handed long sword.

_the great forgetting, or the time of the great forgetting is the period of our earth time that takes place before dragonball history. At that time the guardians of earth were human, and the human race had sent science spiraling into madness, cloning dinosaur DNA, anthromutating creatures into humanoids, and creating biological weapons that caused certain strains of DNA to deteriorate. What happened was the guardian of the time, in an attempt to save the world from the race of man, and its stupidity and arrogance, sacrificed her life, in order to make the world forget, and start anew._

Now they were to train with swords. For the first day, gohan taught her the forms and stances for swordplay. A few hours into that, they sparred for the first time. For someone who had never done swordplay before, Videl was extremely good. She blocked every one of his attacks with the same amount of ease as if it were a fist. That is, until her hair got in the way. She was taking an overly chambered stance, when the wind blew, and her hair rapped around the blade of her wooden sword. It caught, and she tripped in pain, and stumbled to the ground.

"one big rule of any form of martial combat. When chambering a punch, kick, or any kind of blow, too far, too soon, too close too late."

Videl looked at him curiously, not understanding, but then she got it.

"oh! I understand. If you chamber out too far, you arrive at your punch too soon, and if you chamber too close to yourself, you arrive too late."

"exactly."

"but, there is one more issue,"

"what?"

she pointed to her raven locks, now untied from their typical ponytails.

"my hair." She said.

"I think the best thing to do is to cut it."

"if you're sure that's what you want to do, I'll back you all the way, but you have to be sure."

Videl nodded.

They headed back towards the house, and asked chi chi if she could cut Videl's hair. She reluctantly agreed, and got out the scissors.

The next day, when they trained, there was no obstruction caused by loose hair. Not surprisingly, gohan thought, Videl looked good with short hair. Of course, anything looked good on Videl in Gohan's eyes. They trained for hours on end, parry, duck, dodge, thrust, and repeat. That day was their most rigorous yet of training, and it took Videl a whole day of relaxation to recuperate, so gohan went out and trained with Goten for the day. The following day, their second to last day of weekend, they returned to training, and gohan had something for Videl.

Videl had trained very hard in the past few days, and had expanded her strength an amount that was incredible, even by saiyan standards. She was now as strong as Krillin was powered down, and about ¾ his strength if he powered up. A part of gohan told him he should tell her the truth and teach her to use her ki, but another part felt she would reject him, thinking him a liar, and he couldn't bear the thought of that, so he would wait a few weeks. When they went out into the clearing with the ironwood tree, gohan held something of great value to him in his hand. When they approached the clearing, gohan turned to her.

"Videl, you've done exceptionally well in your training with me, and, before we go to the next level of the training, I have a gift for you."

He drew out a small golden capsule, pressed the button on the top, and tossed it into the air. The capsule exploded in a poof, and a three foot long object spiraled out of the smoke. Gohan caught the object mid-fall, and displayed it before Videl. It was a Viking sword. Roughly three feet in length, with a gold guard and pommel, and a blue leather grip handle, and a wooden sheathe with gold inlay over more blue leather.

He handed it to her, and produced a second capsule, this one red, blue, and gold. He opened the capsule within his hand, and it became a bag of clothes.

"under my father there were several warriors of great renown in the world of martial arts. One of them is Vegeta, whom you met. Another is my master, the maker of your sword, piccolo. I too am one of them. We all wear some variation of these colors at times when peril threatens us, and those we care for. Now you too are one of our group. Welcome to the z senshi."

He handed her the red and blue outfit. She bowed her head respectfully to what it stood for. These were a group of warriors to be held in the highest esteem among other fighters. However, she had no place to change without gohan ogling at her, although she doubted gohan ever ogled at anything, so she put the outfit down beside the tree, and took up a fighting stance.

She then noticed that gohan didn't have any weapon. She said as much.

"gohan, you don't have a weapon. How are we going to spar?"

gohan pulled out a red capsule from his pocket.

"it's no problem. I have my dad's power pole."

"your dads what?"

he opened the capsule, and out popped a pole roughly the same size as her sword. He held it in a fighting stance, and she looked at him skeptically.

"don't worry. It wont break. It's one of the rare few magical items in the world, and it's practically indestructible."

She stood a moment longer, and considered how outrageous his claim was, but thought

'he seems serious, maybe he's telling the truth.' And decided to go with it. When she charged, he called out a rather bizarre battle cry. He said "Power pole extend!" she stopped, slightly confused, until the pole actually did extend, to about the size of a greatsword. The sword and pole clashed, once, twice, three times, and again, and again. At first, Videl was slightly worried she might hurt him since she had a sword and he didn't, but the sword grazed his skin in battle, and didn't draw blood, so she figured it was alright to put her full effort into the fight, so she did. They dueled for hours, until it was sunset, and they figured they should return.

When Videl awoke the next morning, she was so sore, she really couldn't move. She knew using a real sword was heavy, but not _that_ heavy. What she didn't know, was that when gohan was training her to use a sword, he was secretly also training her to use her ki to bind the sword, as he had taught Goten and trunks. When she opened her eyes, she found chi chi standing smiling in front of her, towel in hand.

"you look like you could use some spa treatment. How about a girls day out?"

Videl nodded weakly, and inquired as to Gohan's location.

"he went out to get something, and told me he'd be back in around three hours, but he said we have to be gone for longer than that, so he gave me this."

She held out her hand. In it rested a small bean-like object that would turn out to be a bean.

"it's a z senshi remedy for soreness. A friend of ours grows them. Here, eat it, it'll make you feel better."

Videl popped it in her mouth, and bit down. It was as tough as eating tree bark, and didn't taste much better than tree bark, but, as soon as she swallowed, she felt instantly better.

"it's a little old, so you still might be a little sore. Although they don't taste any better fresh, they make a better remedy when fresh. So, how about it, a girls day out?"

Videl smiled and nodded.

Gohan sighed and wiped the sweat from his brow as he battled Vegeta, piccolo, Goten, and trunks all at once. He had come to kami's lookout hoping to talk with the guardian, Dende, the only friend gohan had who was roughly on the same maturity level as him. He had only brought Goten along since there was no-one to watch him for the moment. Instead, he had ended up sparring with his former master, his dad's rival, his brother, and his brother's best friend. In ss2, he dodged and blocked all of the other ss2 and below attacks, but he had to speak with Dende, and this was getting annoying. He decided to end this match. He tensed his body, blocking the attacks with sharper motions, causing the density of his ki barrier to go up. He extended both arms in opposite directions, and expanded the ki barrier, pushing his opponents back. He lowered the field, and walked towards the entrance to the guardians council chambers.

"gohan!"

Dende ran up, and hugged his friend. In the kind of family and friend circle that gohan grew up in, it was customary to greet someone you haven't seen in a while with a hug, and gohan hadn't had a chance to see Dende more than in passing when he trained on the weekends since he started school.

"so, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"well, I stopped by yesterday, and asked about you, but piccolo said you were learning a new guardian technique, and need not be disturbed. Today, however, I have urgent business. I told you a couple of weeks back about my friend Videl, right?"

Dende nodded.

"well, what I didn't tell you, was how we met."

Gohan explained the tale of the mysterious dream, and how Videl died at the end, and gohan went ss3.

"but now, last night, I had the dream again. And this time, I decided to look to see if I could discover the assailant who killed her in my dream. When I did, I found a silhouette standing behind Videl, and what I sensed was far more unnerving. It was some kind of woman, and she had an extremely low power level, yet she possessed a secondary power, one of unimaginable strength, which I could just barely glimpse. It was that power that scared me. I found out this weekend just how much I care for Videl."

Gohan looked away, his expression a wistful one.

"I love her. More than anything in the world. More than life itself."

He turned back to his Namek friend.

"and I can't let her die. I have a feeling this is more than just some ordinary dream, or I wouldn't have bothered you."

"I'd like to do something to help you, but I don't know much of how."

"but I do." Piccolo said, stepping out of the shadows,

"I'm impressed you sensed that secondary power, gohan. That happened because you are part human, and humans, unlike saiyans, possess an inherent magical and psychic ability, as well as ki.

"We Nameks have a far stronger control over our psychic side, and can probably help you track this being. I'll teach Dende to use techniques for singling out magic and psychic energies, so you don't worry about it."

Gohan smiled, and bowed to piccolo.

"Thanks piccolo."

"So, gohan, tell us about this girl you had me make a sword for." Piccolo smiled, an almost smirk, but not quite.

"She must be very special."

Gohan nodded, and explained what had happened over the past few months, leading up to the last week.

"And now she's almost as strong as Krillin, and she hasn't even been taught to use her ki yet."

"You know you can't leave her in the dark forever." Dende said.

"as much as you'd like to protect her, evil will always be there to threaten this planet, this universe, we're here to stop it, but, it would be much easier for her if she knew how to defend herself." Piccolo added.

Gohan sighed, agreeing, and thanked them both, before flying off towards home.

When Videl returned to the son home with chi chi, she felt more refreshed and relaxed than ever. They found gohan sitting on the couch, vegging out. He looked up at Videl and smiled that smile that she thought could launch a thousand ships.

"have a good time?"

she smiled and said yes.

"well, then, back to training!" he hopped off the couch, headed for the door, when his hypersensitive saiyan ears caught the sound of the beating of a rather large set of wings, directly above his head. He tensed, ready for whatever was about to pounce on him, and looked up.

"Icarus?"

the purple dragon, now roughly twice the size of the one gohan had met and befriended all those years ago, looked down, and stopped beating his wings. He plummeted out of the air, and landed directly on his old friend. When Videl and chi chi got outside, the two were laughing and wrestling.

"let me guess, another family friend?"

chi chi nodded, and then shook her head at the scene before her.

When the wrestling was over, gohan turned to Videl.

"Videl, this is Icarus, an old friend of mine. Icarus, this is Videl."

The big dragon craned its head over to her, sniffed once, then did something similar to purring.

"I guess he likes you." Said gohan.

But when the dragon turned to gohan, after the merriment of reunion had ended, gohan could tell something was wrong.

"Icarus, is something wrong?"

the dragon nodded. He then spun around, using his tail to point to his back.

"you want us to get on?"

the dragon nodded again, this time looking at Videl, as if in acceptance that she would come too.

"okay, show us where the trouble is, buddy."

They got on Icarus' back, and he took off almost immediately. They soared, high above the trees. For Videl, who had never flown in anything but a jet before, this was exhilarating. Gohan, however, was more focused on the problem at hand.

They raced through the forest, the trees flashing by at super speed. Suddenly, the trees opened out, and they flew steadily upwards, up the side of a mountain. They landed downwind of a large plateau leading up to a cave. There, on the mountainside, surrounded by tree stumps, was a small blue man, and two large white robots.

"SHUU, MAAI! I told you to get to work clearing the way the underbrush! We need to find that dragonball!"

"but emperor pilaf, we've been doing this for almost a week, and without a coffee break either!"

"oh, shut up!"

the short blue man ran up and kicked one of the two robots, resulting in him doing the 'ow, my foot!' dance for the next three minutes.

'emperor pilaf.'

Gohan smiled and shook his head.

"emperor who?"

"emperor pilaf. This guy was always out looking for these things called the dragon –" gohan just then realized that he had only thought the name, not spoken it, and Videl had responded.

"you're not psychic, are you?"

"not that I know of, why?"

"because I could have sworn I didn't say that name out loud."

"well, it did sound kind of echoey… oh, never mind."

"anyway, pilaf used to go looking for these things called the dragonballs, which supposedly granted wishes, and he kept running into my dad, who he somehow decided was in the way of his plans for world domination, and kept trying to destroy him. All attempts failed, of course, and pilaf probably still hasn't found a dragonball, after all these years."

They watched the scene progress for the next five minutes. All that seemed to happen was pilaf screamed at his two henchmen, and his henchmen seemed to keep blundering in one way or another. Either the robot went haywire, they pressed a wrong button and sent pilaf flying off the edge of the mountainside, only to just scramble up with his life in tact, or they just couldn't figure out how to work the controls. By this time, gohan figured he'd make an entrance.

Gohan hopped out of the brush, and promptly walked up to the three figures.

"emperor pilaf. Still haven't found a dragonball, I see."

The little blue man looked up. He had aged considerably since he was last seen, and was now around 65 years old, and very loud, boisterous, and annoying. His henchmen, shu and mai, now in their late forties to early fifties, if possible, looked even more tired of working for pilaf.

"who the heck are you?" the short would-be emperor said.

"my name's son gohan, and this is my friend Videl."

The old man looked hard at them, as if trying to decide whether or not they existed.

"well, you look familiar, and the name almost rings a bell, but I still haven't a clue who you are."

"well, you know my dad, goku. He always seemed to be in the right place at the right time foiling your plans for world domination."

Suddenly it clicked. This was the son of that annoying brat, goku, who always caused trouble for him.

Pilaf backed away slightly in fear. Goku had a way of getting stronger with every time they met, and if his kid was just as strong, or worse, stronger, they could be in big trouble, if the kid didn't have the same lighthearted demeanor as his father. Well, caution to the winds, as usual.

"SHU, MAI, ATTACK!"

the giant robots shot missiles at them, but the targeting systems of the robots were fried, so the missiles spiraled off harmlessly into the sky, and exploded like so many fireworks. Pilaf groaned in frustration.

"use the machine guns, you idiots!"

the arms of the robots disconnected, and were replaced by four enormous gattling guns.

Now gohan was worried. He could dodge bullets, and they weren't a threat to his life, since the skin of those with relative ki control is hard enough to stop bullets, but he wasn't sure about Videl. He dove to the side, grabbing Videl's arm along the way, and they hit the ground, barely getting to the ground before the bullets flew overhead. He got up in a crouching position, and ran sideways across the field, running in zigzag patterns, then leaping up, over the heads of the robots. As soon as he landed, he jumped again, landing on top of the robots. He grabbed the seam of the riveted edge of the robots pilot hatch, and tore it off. He lifted Shu out, tossing him to the ground, and repeated these steps with Mai's robot.

When he was done, gohan leapt down from the top of the robot, and looked at each one of the would-be villains in turn.

"don't you ever get tired of working for this guy? I mean, you do a pretty good job as treasure hunters, so why not look into it as a career?"

the two henchmen looked at each other, then back to gohan.

"we never looked at it that way. Thanks for the idea."

"sure, no problem. And here," he handed them the phone number to capsule corporation.

"I'm sure capsule corp would be glad to supply you with machinery, in exchange for a small cut of the profits."

The two looked at their employer.

"emperor pilaf…" said Shu, but he couldn't finish the sentence. This was hard for them, they had never worked for anyone else except pilaf, and they didn't think they would ever find a better career.

"we quit." Mai finished.

"as for you, 'emperor', this is the end of your deforestation career. These robots are now – "

gohan kicked the two robots, one after the other, and they went flying over the mountainside, and disappeared from sight.

" – are now useless. Just accept it. It's not your place to rule the world."

The little man scowled, shook his head, scowled again, looked around for his henchmen who were no longer there, sighed, and pulled out a capsule. He opened it, and out popped a small, one man jet. He got in, and flew off.

When they returned to the spot where Icarus was hiding, he wasn't there. They were just about ready to turn and leave, when the dragon landed in front of them, something orange in his mouth. Gohan walked up, and Icarus dropped the dragonball at his feet.

"hey gohan, that looks just like the ball the restaurant manager gave you, except with only one star."

"that's because these are dragonballs. That was the seven star ball, and this is the one star ball... and I've got a hunch as to the location of the four star ball. Icarus, do you know a place where there is a crater in the woods?"

the dragon nodded.

"can you take us there?"

the dragon nodded again.

They climbed on to Icarus' back, and flew to the site where Gohan's dad was first found. There, in the growth that now filled the place, lying in the deteriorated remains of the space pod where goku was first found, lay the four star ball.

"how did you know to look here, gohan?"

"just a hunch. This is where my great grandfather first found my dad. His name was son gohan, and he found the four star dragonball too. When he died of unknown causes, my dad kept this ball. He thought it was what held his grandfather's soul, as odd as that may sound. He only found out later what the dragonballs are really used for."

"so they really do work?"

gohan fumbled. The dragonballs were a large part of the secret of who he was, and he wasn't sure he wanted Videl to know about them yet. In the end, he decided to tell her the truth, at least some of it, about the dragonballs.

"legend says there are seven mystical dragonballs, each with a different number of stars on them. When put together once a year, they have the power to grant wishes. When the wish granting is over, their magic turns them to stone for one year, and they are scattered all over the earth. After a year is up, they are turned back into dragonballs, and can be used again. Few know the true power of the dragonballs. The z-senshi all know of their power, and when evil threatens to harm those we love, we sometimes use the dragonballs to save those we care for. When my dad was young, he first searched for the dragonballs, and it lead to the greatest lifelong adventure the world has ever known. That is the legacy he has passed down unto me. The legacy of the dragonballs."_ Spoiler – this, along with one other thing, is where the name of the story comes from._

When they returned home to the son house, Gohan reverently placed the two dragonballs in the chest where goku kept things from his adventures. Inside was a small bag of sensu beans, Goku's training gi, the power pole, and now three dragonballs. When he was setting them away, Videl realized the reason she was allowed in the room, was because she was being allowed a small glimpse into the secret life of gohan. It wasn't the whole picture, but it was a start. After their days ordeals, they went to bed.

The final day of their mid winter break went by quite uneventfully. They decided that, after training, studying, and entertaining Goten, it was time for a day off. Chi chi realized this was an opportune moment for the two teenagers, provided she and Goten were not in the house, and she promptly left. The two spent the day just relaxing, playing board games, and watching movies. It was rather interesting, they both found, how despite the fact that no movie could scare Videl, she found her face buried in Gohan's shirt at almost every scary or suspenseful scene, or how gohan would put his arm around her shoulders during romantic scenes. At least, it would be interesting for them, if the two knew they were doing it.

At about seven o'clock, the sun had already set, and they sat watching a movie, when the clouds, which had steadily been forming into a large nimbostratus accumulation, began to storm, and a large bolt of lightning struck a nearby power line (yes, despite the advances in modern technology, the human race still hasn't realized how much more efficient it is to put power lines underground), and the lights went out, startling the two teenagers with the blast of thunder immediately afterwards.

"gohan,"

Videl whispered into the darkened room,

"what's up, Videl?"

Videl had something important to say, but didn't know exactly how to say it.

"I… I just want to thank you for inviting me over. It's been the most wonderful time. You're family is great, and you… you're…you're just you, and you are the best thing that's ever –"

she was interrupted when his lips met hers in a passionate, yet gentle kiss. She was surprised at first, but not at all bothered by it. She eventually simply closed her eyes, and enjoyed herself. They wrapped their arms around each other. Videl felt that she could live in his embrace until the end of her days. Of course, like all living things, they eventually needed to breathe. When they parted, to them it felt like losing the better half of themselves.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have –"

this time, Gohan's words were cut off when Videl placed two fingers on his lips.

"Shhh" she said.

She removed her hand, and their faces gradually came closer, and met once again. The kiss was longer lasting this time, and more passionate. Videl licked Gohan's lower lip, requesting access to his mouth. He refused. It was clear he had doubts about how far she really wanted their relationship to go, and how much of this was just blind passion. Finally, Videl became impatient, and stepped down hard on Gohan's foot. This caused him to gasp in pain, opening his mouth. The pain was short-lived however – replaced by pleasure as their tongues met, filling the final gaps of doubt gohan had. The kissing progressed into a long makeout session, ending an hour later, when Goten stepped into the house and caught them kissing. "EEEW! MOM!" was all he said before running back outside.

Dinner was complete silence, composed mainly of gohan and Videl sneaking very mushy (in Goten's opinion) glances at each other, and chi chi going off into the kitchen to "get something" every three minutes, which meant that she went off to cry happily to herself about how children grow up so fast.


	8. Chapter 8

That day of school, for gohan, was a constant battle. When they arrived at school, Videl kissed him lightly on the cheek, and said hello. She was obviously comfortable with them being a couple, but she had nothing to hide. He, on the other hand, was a super saiyan from another planet, and it was he who had killed cell. Considering everyone, including Videl thought it was her father who killed cell, it was going to be a hard telling of the tale, but he knew now that they were together, she would have to know.

When they went to gym class, Videl didn't seem to have a hard time explaining that the reason she was wearing the same kind of training clothes as gohan was because gohan had accepted her into an elite group of martial artists. When Videl walked up to gohan, she asked,

"what is in this outfit, bricks?"

"talcite. It's a powder similar to chalk, that becomes hyper-dense when saturated by water. Hydrated talcite is infused with the fibers of the outfit, making it very compact, yet very heavy. Great for training with weighted clothes."

She nodded.

For the next two days, they trained with the weighted clothing, and Videl adapted to it almost immediately. Of course, the saturation property of talcite is only one property. Its density also reacts to ki level, so that the higher the ki level one has, the heavier the talcite infused item, so she still could train in the outfit for years before she was stronger than it was heavy. On the third day, gohan decided they had had enough training, and decided to tell her the truth. Unfortunately, when he opened his mouth, Videl spoke instead.

"gohan… I've been thinking… there's a winter formal coming up, and… well, would you, you know… crap! I'm just not good at this kind of thing. Before I became 'martial artist daughter of the world champion Videl', I was just tomboy Videl, and I guess I've never really gotten out of that phase, now have I?"

gohan put a hand reassuringly on her shoulder.

"Never, ever try to be something you're not. It's every part of you that's beautiful, and I don't want you being upset with any one part that makes you who you are. Besides, I'm the one who's supposed to ask you out, I just completely forgot about it along the way. Videl, will you go the winter formal with me?"

Videl was too happy to speak. His words, about her being beautiful – nobody had ever called her that before. She simply smiled widely, and nodded.

Over the next few weeks before the formal, gohan was too preoccupied with everything that was going on to remember to tell Videl who he was. He felt time had just given him the slip.

'I've got exactly one month, two weeks to get a suit, learn to dance, get a car, learn to drive, and get my license! Shit! I'll never have enough time.' was all that was running through his head for the entire time.

The first thing he did was get a suit. This was not at all easy, since he was 6' 3" tall. Most people weren't that tall, although some were. Piccolo was almost seven foot, but he supposed, being a Namek, it didn't really count. Videl, were it not for her wealth, would be having the same problem. She was 5' 10", so she was also particularly tall. In the end, gohan found a suit. It wasn't a particularly attractive suit, being lime green and two sizes too large, but after some dying and hemming, it fit and looked fine. Of course, for the few hours after the dying process, no-one could say the same about the smell.

Step two was learning to dance. For that, he asked his mother. He had been planning to ask Bulma, who seemed to know about these things, but he had a feeling Vegeta would kill him, or at least attain a new super saiyan level and beat him senseless if he ever caught Bulma teaching him how to dance. Driving lessons, however, was Bulma's job. Gohan had spent the first week memorizing every book of up to date road rules he could find, so learning to drive wouldn't require learning the rules from Bulma, or how to operate the car. However, Bulma did have some useful extra lessons about driving that no book taught.

"Always drive defensively. This allows you to always be prepared for anything that might happen on the road. Say some maniac comes speeding down at 225 miles an hour. Don't try to get in his way. Don't try to make him see reason. Pull over, and let him get to his accident."

This was fantastic advice, but advice he had a hard time listening to. When, during his driving test, at a crossroad a stolen armored car barreled down the road at exactly 225 miles per hour, gohan did his best to move faster than the eye could see, using the afterimage technique to look like he was staying in the car, while he was actually stopping the robbers. He blinked back just in time for the afterimage to wear off, and the instructor, the same man who had taught piccolo and goku to drive years earlier, was too old and tired to notice the slight ripple in the image of gohan for a second.

After he passed the test, gohan had one final task. With one week to spare, he had to make enough money to rent a car. He knew he could borrow one of bulma's capsule cars, but he felt that this should be his task, and he would earn the money himself. After calculating the mileage into the package for the classic luxury car he wanted, which came out to approximately 200 zeni, he decided to make it by doing jobs for people in Hercule city. Paint a house for 300 zeni here, fix a broken stairway for 200 zeni there. With his super speed and strength, he was able to finish seven hundred and sixty two jobs, amounting to around 190000 zeni. This was way, way more than enough. so much more than enough, that he had become one the wealthiest teenagers in pretty much all of the world. he donated quite a lot to charity, put a bit more into a fund for later life, and decided to use the rest on a down payment on a car.

He chose a classic cherry red pulce de voile (pronounced pyuls day voiee), a large, long, and slightly square luxury car, with several odd switches that he had no idea what they were for (in fact, no one did, since those switches were copied off of the blueprints for a car that were discovered from before the great forgetting, and had no real purpose other than being aesthetically pleasing. They were, in fact, an old fashioned car cigarette lighter and several other like devices that didn't really work), actual side view mirrors, and windshield wipers, now outdated since water resistant polyglass was invented. It was, in fact, a beautiful car.

_Since I am no good at describing cars, a better explanation for what the car looked like would be that it had a likeness to a coupe deville._

He knew that with the amount of money he made, he could fully pay for the car in two more weeks, but the dance was one night away, so he put the remainder of his 190000 zeni into a 25 down payment, and got the car. It took some time getting used to it. It was a rather bulky car, and not the best to maneuver in, but, like with learning to dance and drive, his saiyan heritage helped in learning to drive this particular car.

The night of the dance, when he pulled up to Videl's house, stepped out of his new car, and walked up to the door, corsage in hand, and rang the doorbell to the enormous front door. The man who opened the door was quite a familiar face to gohan, since gohan was quite familiar with his claim to fame. The door was immediately flung shut in Gohan's face. This was to be expected. Hercule didn't like any boy who thought they could be friends with Videl, and especially didn't like one who thought they could take her to a dance.

After some muffled conversation that normally gohan would be able to hear using his superhuman senses, but couldn't, due to the thickness of the door, the door opened again, and this time, he was let in by an absolutely dazzling looking Videl. Gohan said as much. "You look absolutely dazzling." Said gohan, far too dazzled to prevent Hercule from noticing his wide eyed amazement. Videl blushed and smiled brighter. Gohan found she looked even more beautiful when she blushed, but decided it would be a bad idea to tell her this in front of her overprotective father.

"oh! I almost forgot!"

gohan held out his hand. He handed her the corsage, and her eyes went wide.

"A ghost orchid! Where did you find one of these?"

"they grow in the forest outside of east district 439. I remember when we did a biology review in chemistry, you mentioned how much you like orchids, and I knew something of them as well, so I picked the most rare and beautiful one." He leaned in and whispered to her

"_in that it is rare and beautiful, it matches you perfectly"_

Hercule, having been watching them like a hawk, naturally saw this gesture, and it made him quite distressed.

"hey! I don't know who you think you are, but if you – "

Videl interrupted her father

"daddy! It was just a compliment!"

_if any one who reads this knows anything about orchids, the ghost orchid is so rare, it is illegal to buy or sell. By the time in history that this story takes place, due to the forgetting, (I may or may not continue to make references to the great forgetting throughout the story) many plants have begun to flourish due to a lack of human poaching. The ghost orchid, however less rare than it was, is still extremely rare and valuable. One ghost orchid can run up to 1000 zeni, if sold from a legal source._

Within the next few minutes, Videl had had no choice but to return back upstairs to finish getting ready. This left gohan sitting there with Hercule.

"so… Mr. Satan…"

the man simply grunted and tried to look intimidating, a nearly impossible task for him in front of gohan. In fact, the only thing that kept gohan from speaking outright to him was fear of Videl's disapproval of disrespecting her father, and not his fear of Hercule himself.

"you're a fool, you know that, if you think you have even an ounce of the strength you need to date my daughter. You're a weakling. Just like your weakling father. Yup, I know who you are. I was there when your father fought cell. He lost horribly and died like a weakling. Too bad you weren't even around to see it happen. What was it then, too scared?"

gohan, at this point, had gone from white knuckles rage, to almost laughing out loud.

'He's lived a lie for so long, he's forgotten what the truth really is.'

as a matter of fact, this wasn't entirely true. Hercule kept getting flashbacks to some weird kid with gold hair and turquoise eyes, but he wasn't the brightest man, and simply couldn't put two and two together.

Gohan decided to give Hercule a scare.

"Well, I've just one thing to say to that. If anybody's head should ever drop into your lap, asking to talk to me, then try and gage my strength, but not before."

Being that this was exactly what had happened just before gohan had gone ss2, he had a feeling it would give Hercule a scare, and set him thinking, which would make him even more scared. It worked, too. Hercule suddenly felt as if it was all coming back to haunt him. When Videl came down the stairs again, he ushered them out of the house as fast as possible, with a quick "if you touch her I'll kill you – oh, and be back by ten, or you're dead" to gohan. When they were gone, he closed the door behind him, and slid down the door, very confused.

When they got to the car, Videl was amazed.

"You rented this car? It must have cost you a fortune!"

"well, it did cost me a fortune, but I didn't rent it, I bought it."

"you what? How?"

"I had some money saved up from jobs I've done for people over the years, and I used the money to make a down payment."

Videl passed her hand over the syntholeather, and said

"a corsage so rare that it's almost criminal, and a classic car in pristine condition. Is there anything you can't get?"

"No, and you forgot something." He said, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek,

"I get to dance with the most beautiful girl on the planet tonight."

Videl blushed.

When they arrived at the dance, they were found almost immediately by Erasa and Sharpner, who, despite their being each other's dates, found themselves in the position of wallflowers.

"We were wondering when you two would get together." Said Sharpner.

Videl looked at him curiously.

"we could say the same about you and Erasa, you know."

The two suddenly both had something in their eye, and turned aside, blushing fiercely.

_Yes, I know my characters blush a lot, but please understand, it seems like the only decent reaction for the situation. Sorry to all those readers who find it cheesy. Also, sorry if all these footnotes are bothering you readers, but this chapter has a lot of explanations as to what happened to the planet post great forgetting._

They sat out the first few dances, doing typical dance type things – getting drinks, taking pictures with their friends, and talking. After a while, Sharpner eventually got up the nerve to ask Erasa to dance, and Videl and gohan were alone at their table. There was no trouble in making conversation. Gohan considered telling Videl the truth about himself then, but decided against it, figuring that the pounding music and flashing lights was not the best environment to destroy everything Videl ever knew about her father. Besides, they were having a good time, and he didn't want to ruin it.

They talked for about a half an hour, when Videl heard a song she really liked – black magic woman, by Santana, she grabbed gohan and pulled him to the dance floor. Of course, nobody actually knew who Santana was, since it was from before the great forgetting, but the music was good, so who cares? It turned out Videl was a really good dancer, and kind of made gohan, who could now dance like a pro, due to his saiyan heritage helping him along in his learning, look a little bit boxy and flawed in his movements. Nobody but gohan, however, noticed this, since they both were spectacular dancers. The only actual difference was that Videl had a feel for the flow of the music, and gohan had a feel for the flow of Videl's dancing.

'She's just so beautiful. How in heaven or hell did someone like me end up with her?'

Next up, to everybody's surprise, was night fever, by the Bee Gees. disco was and always would be weird dance music, so it was clear that the DJ was clinically insane, and needed to be sedated. Nonetheless, Videl and gohan kept dancing. Eventually, everybody realized that if Videl and gohan, who were clearly the best dancers there, were discoing, it was only fair that everybody else at least try. Soon, everyone was dancing. The two didn't, however, see their two friends dancing, and soon found out why. They found Erasa and Sharpner two seconds from making out there at the table they had been sitting at fifteen minutes earlier.

Erasa was sitting on Sharpner's lap, and they were kissing furiously.

"Should you tell them they're in public, or should I?" asked Videl.

"I don't want to get in the way, or get my head bitten off by a love deprived Erasa or Sharpner, so I'll leave this one to you." Gohan said with an evil grin. Videl harrumphed, and walked over, tapping Erasa on the shoulder, and said

"you two might want to either find a phone booth, a closet, go home, or something, but your making a bit of a spectacle of yourselves here."

The two blushed, thanked Videl for alerting them to their current situation, and left, hand in hand.

Videl and gohan sat down and talked for the next hour. Suddenly, Videl heard yet another song which she really liked. This time, it was a slow dance. A Whiter Shade of Pale, by Procol Harum. Gohan also liked the song, and the dance was one of sheer perfection for both of them. The dance was slow, and sentimental. Ironically, the larger part of the song was about getting a hangover, but since very few people at the dance were over 21, the song had little and no pertinence to anyone, besides being good to slow dance to. Videl found herself pressed up against gohan, her head leaned against his shoulder, purely of her own accord. Gohan loved every minute he spent with Videl, but having her this close was making him resemble more of a puddle on the floor that a saiyan.

_Music is one of the few surviving things from the great forgetting, along with a few rare VCR's, which nobody really understands how to program, so not much has changed in twenty thousand years._

When the dance was finished, the time was ten, and time to go. As they rode home in Gohan's car, Videl smiled as she rested her head against Gohan's shoulder. It was clear to Videl how much she cared for him, and not in a subconscious way anymore. She loved him, with every part of her being. Gohan felt the same way. Odd, after so little time together that they should feel as such for each other. Odd, yet true.

When they got to the door to Videl's estate, they turned to face each other.

"thank you, gohan, for the most wonderful night." Videl kissed him.

He nearly hopped out of his shoes, and decided that the response to her kissing him would never change. If they were together for a million years, he would always be just as pleasantly surprised when they kissed. When they broke from the kiss, Videl spoke in a whisper, but an audible one.

"I love you." She said. As if he wasn't surprised before, he could have rocketed to the moon (if there still was one) with this kind of happiness.

"likewise." He said with a smile.

she grabbed him around the neck, and pulled him into another kiss.

"Now is that any way to answer the words 'I love you?'" she asked when she broke the kiss.

"You're right, and I'm sorry. I'll try harder this time – Videl Satan, I love you, and I will until the end of time."

He then pulled her closer into his embrace, and they kissed for another few minutes. Finally, gohan broke, and said

"you should go inside before you catch a cold, or I catch my death from your father."

She smiled at him, and kissed him briefly on the lips.

"goodnight."

"good night, my forever love."

When gohan got home that night, since there was no moon to fly around any more, he decided the sun would have to do, and flew around that, all the while trying to better process the idea that not only was he in love, but that the girl he loved loved him back. In the end he decided it was either sheer dumb luck, or karma, but who was he to argue with dumb luck and karma?


	9. Chapter 9

One month later

"Hmm, gohan, have you ever wanted to fly?" said Videl, resting her head in Gohan's lap,

"What, you mean like in a plane?"

"no, of course not. I mean like a bird."

'Hmm… should I teach her? I know she should already know about this stuff, I just haven't had time to tell her.'

"Well, I've heard from my father's master, master Roshi, that in his time, there were fighters who could fly."

"bullshit." Said Sharpner,

"nobody can fly. It's not physically possible. What do you do, flap your arms?"

"Nope. You use your spirit energy to propel you upwards. It takes practice, but it's not particularly difficult to learn how to do."

When all eyes fell on him, gohan promptly corrected himself.

"Or, so I've heard."

Videl had her suspicions, and decided to test them.

"Oh, come on now, big guy, I bet you know more than you're letting on. I bet you can fly, and you're just not telling us the truth!"

gohan went red, and looked at the ground. Videl punched him in the shoulder.

"oh, come on, gohan, I'm just ribbing ya!"

this made him very relieved, and he smiled that smile that made her want his arms around her all over again, and for said reason, she kissed him. The desired reaction was immediate. He wrapped his arms around her, and held her tightly in his loving embrace.

Just then, the bell rang. They went off to the gym to get changed, and then flew to their training site. They trained for about ten minutes with the sword and power pole, but Gohan's mind was elsewhere, and he couldn't concentrate.

'I promised myself I would tell her, and she's told me she loves me. The truth is more important now than ever. That's it, I'll tell her now.'

He drew his focus out of his inner being just in time to be killed by Videl's blade for the fourth time in a row.

"gohan, what's up? You never let me win that many times in a row. Is something wrong?"

gohan dropped the pole, and stepped over to her. She lowered her blade, and he kissed her. The kiss was one of profound sadness, and Videl could feel it. She was seriously wondering what could be so wrong that it made gohan this upset. She then found herself wondering how she managed to sense Gohan's feelings through his kiss.

When the kiss was over, gohan said

"I had to know that you loved me, even if you never will again, after what I tell you now. You will probably think me the worst kind of liar, but I must tell you the truth. I've put it off far too long."

He stepped back, and powered up. Lightning swirled around his form, his hair and tail went gold, his sad eyes turquoise. Even without a trained ability to sense ki, she knew the power emanating from the boy before her was now enough to destroy worlds.

"Your father didn't kill cell. I did."

It came back to her. The tapes showed a blond haired boy with turquoise eyes fighting cell. Then a small something landed in front of the boy as he was fighting, he looked at it for a minute, and then cell destroyed it. The boy seemed to get very angry then, and his hair flew up again, as lightning flashed around him. 'just like gohan is now…'

"the boy… in the video… it was you…"

gohan simply nodded.

"I take it the tapes stopped before I kill cell, right?"

Videl said yes.

"so, I suppose you're wondering why I can make this transformation… well, it's a long story. I'll do my best to tell you everything pertinent about cell, and that history, and as little side story as necessary." Gohan powered down, and prepared himself for the telling.

Videl sat in awed silence as gohan told the story of his father's and his own life. It was several hours later that he finished. By that time, school was also finished, and they had missed the entire day. Gohan had explained everything. The dragonballs, their pivotal position in the earths workings – were it not for the dragonballs, the earth would be gone many times over. The Namekian guardians who had watched over the planets for years, and their role in creating the dragonballs. The z senshi, and their role as defenders of not only the earth, but many other planets as well, if not the entire universe from the greatest threats in existence. The evils which the z senshi have fought and defeated over the course of their combined lifetimes. The Kai's, who watched over the universe from their position in Otherworld. Gohan told nearly all. He did leave several vital points out, like how he was the strongest person in the universe.

He had laid it out that cell had simply overlooked him as a fighter, and that he had killed cell from behind. He had also left the part with Raditz out. He figured she might still accept him if she knew he was the one who beat cell, but he wasn't so sure what she'd think about knowing he was a half alien. For the explanation of super saiyan, he set it up as a special genetic trait that only one in one billion humans had, and for Vegeta, he simply changed his name during the saiyan invasions, and made him someone goku met later, on earth.

Finally, when he had finished telling the tale of his entire life, a sad smile on his face, he said

"now I suppose you'd be wanting proof."

He allowed a small trickle of his ki to propel him inches above the ground.

"flight."

He formed a small ball of energy in his hand as he returned to the ground.

"this is ki. also called spirit energy, it is the secondary form of life force. In this form, it has been manipulated into a ki "blast." This can be thrown at an opponent, and explodes on impact. Over the years, after learning the ancient art of ki control, I have complete mastery of it. You can touch it, if you like. It can do you no harm."

Videl stood up, and touched the orb. It was warm, her fingers tingled, but it did nothing more. when she put her hand down, gohan released his hold on the ki ball's power source, and it faded out of existence.

"It was with ki energy such as what you just saw, that I destroyed cell."

Videl still said nothing. The sun began to set.

"I will understand if you think me a liar. But you needed to know the truth, even if you didn't believe it. I'll take you home now, if you wish it."

Videl stalked up to him, and slapped him hard across the face.

"Liar! You think I don't believe you! Of course I believe you! I love you, but what I can't believe is that you've waited so long to tell me this! And gohan, why did you let my father take credit for something like this? – no, don't answer. I already know you want nothing of fame. But why keep this from me? I love you, but I can't be with you if you won't tell me who you are. I know there are things you still haven't told me. If you can bear to tell me the truth, but only half of it, you don't really care for me. I don't want to be hurt by someone who wont tell me the truth about themselves, let alone the truth about something like cell."

She pulled her jet capsule out of her pocket.

"as to getting back," she said, her back turned to him so he couldn't see her tears,

"I can do that on my own."

He bowed his head sadly.

"as you wish."

"I didn't deserve her anyway. She's better off without me."

He instant transmitted himself to Kami's lookout. He had just lost the only girl he would ever love. He either needed someone to talk to, or something to fight. he had a feeling he'd find both there.

"so, you're playing sour grapes, eh kid?"

gohan simply nodded as his mentor walked up to him. Piccolo put a consoling hand on

the boy's shoulder.

"I should've just told her the whole truth, if she was going to leave anyway… but it's safer – she's safer not knowing."

"…and now, she's gone." He said to Dende, finishing his sad tale.

Vegeta, who had snuck into the guardians council chamber not unnoticed, finally spoke up.

"so you took the easy way out, huh brat. Looks like you could use a good fight."

Gohan's eyes hardened. Vegeta spoke true. He stood up, and followed Vegeta into the hyperbolic time chamber. They fought for hours, Vegeta pummeling gohan as gohan simply took it.

Try as he might, gohan simply couldn't focus on the fight. finally, he powered up one last time to the maximum power of ss2, and pushed Vegeta back.

"I can't concentrate, and I don't appreciate you taking advantage of that and pummeling me. This fight is over."

He walked out of the chamber, shutting the door behind him. (provided no one is in the chamber, it will revert back to its original status, even if the door is destroyed, which is how the fridge always remains stocked)

Before anyone could speak to him, he transmitted himself to his room, and collapsed on the bed, crying.

'it's not the same, this way. If I had never known her, it would've been better. Its like there's a hole in me that she always filled.'

He was empty. Dead, and it was his own fault. Meanwhile, Videl wept into her own pillow, for she too felt the emptiness of the loss of the one she loved.

'he seems dead to me now… how can I ever get him to forgive me… how can I forgive myself?'

she wept late into the night, when she cried herself to sleep.

Two weeks later

The last two weeks were sheer torture, for both of them. For Videl's sake, gohan had once more taken to skipping lunch, which, although he never ate, he had been sitting and talking. He also sat as far from her as possible, in an attempt to spare her feelings. This only, however, made things worse for Videl, who desperately needed to be near him. In class, they avoided each others glance, sneaking looks when the other wasn't looking. When once their eyes met, gohan simply smiled sadly, and returned to his work. The sadness in his eyes, reflected and magnified by Videl's own sadness, nearly caused her to break down in tears again.

They rejoined the gym class, which was still practicing martial arts, and doing very badly at it. Since the two best students had returned, the coach split the class in half, and gave one half to gohan, and one to Videl. By the end of two weeks like this, gohan made up his mind. "I'm not going back to school." He would simply lay under the covers for the rest of his life. He had made up his mind, and this was the fate he had chosen. His mom could starve him for months – he would not leave this room. He was then quite surprised when his mother came in, carrying a breakfast tray, laden with one half of a saiyan breakfast. Goten followed with the other half. They placed the trays on either side of gohan, and chi chi sent Goten out.

"what happened, gohan? You've been coming home from school everyday more melancholy and sad than I've ever seen you, except when your father died."

"she's gone mom. Gone from my life. She was the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me, and now she's gone."

Chi chi reached over, and hugged her son.

"in any other case, I'd tell you there were plenty of other fish in the sea, but in a case like this, you've got to go after her. She loves you gohan, and I know you love her. This is a tough spot for both of you, but I know you can pull through. You two are already bonded in love, and it can't be long until your bonded in spirit as well."

He nodded, determination returning to him. He understood what she meant. His mother had explained saiyan bonding to him once before, and he knew if he would bond with anyone, it would be Videl.

"now rest for today, get up what strength you need to face her, and then face her."

"thanks mom."

Chi chi got up, and left gohan to his breakfast.

After hours of meditation, building up his mental strength so he could face her, and tell her the whole truth, gohan stood up, and instant transmissioned himself to her house. 'shit!' he'd forgotten an apology gift. He flew off at super speed just as the door opened, made it to the florist, bought a bouquet of white roses, and instant transmissioned back again. He knocked on the door again, and it was opened by none other than the champ himself, Hercule. Upon seeing gohan, Hercule almost immediately took a swing at him. The fist was caught at eye level, and propelled back. Hercule was knocked back by the force of the push, and he landed flat on his ass.

"I'm here to speak with Videl. Is she here?" the terrified champion shook his head.

"sh-she she went looking for you. I told her I wouldn't let her go, but she just walked right past me."

Gohan simply nodded, and left. Paying no mind to who might be watching, he flew off towards his own house.

When he arrived, all windows were dark – chi chi had gone out to visit Bulma with Goten. He spotted Videl's jet about to land in the clearing next to the house. He landed behind a nearby tree. Videl got out of her jet, and ran to the door. She knocked, and then banged on the door, before sliding down to her knees, weeping openly. Gohan stepped out and ran to her. When she saw him, she stood up, and ran into his open arms.

"forgive me, Videl. I never meant to hurt you. What I didn't tell you is that the being called Raditz, was my father's brother. My father, as well as Vegeta, are aliens from a now destroyed planet. They are the last remaining full blooded saiyans, and I'm half saiyan. I didn't want to tell you, because I thought you might be afraid of me, and I didn't want that."

Videl cradled Gohan's head in her lap as he cried.

"I could never be afraid to love you, gohan. You're my best friend, as well as the boy that I love. I should have realized what ever you kept from me was what you thought would protect me. Please forgive me."

They held each other and cried for a few minutes, before the spark of passion grew between them once more, and they kissed again. Gohan lifted Videl up, and carried her inside, and up to his room, which, because of the enormous amount of stuff he now kept due to school, he now had a separate room from his brother. There, they held each other, kissing passionately, as their hands groped each other's backs, looking for a way of making deeper connection. Videl found it, when she found his tail. It being the most sensitive spot on his body, Videl latched onto it, and gohan moaned in pleasure. He was having a hard time restraining his passion. When she idly stroked the base of his tail, he could hold back no longer. He released himself from their kiss, and growled ferally, and bit down hard into the crook of her neck. Videl cried out, as she felt an immense power course through her, and, in the throws of passion, she bit down in the same spot on his neck. They tremored with the force of what they were sharing, the experience of bonding, and collapsed into a deep, exhausted sleep, still holding each other tightly.


	10. Chapter 10

What he was seeing, it was an instant, and it was an eternity. It was the life of a small girl with raven hair and azure eyes. It was the life of Videl. He watched through her eyes as she was born, and as she grew. He watched as her mother brushed Videl's hair, and lovingly tucked the girl into bed at night. He watched with immense sadness, as Videl's mother slipped beyond the grasp of medical assistance. He looked on as Videl made a promise to her dying mother to always be strong, and help her father do the same. He watched as Videl took a handful of her mother's ashes, and spread them out over the sea. He saw her train harder than he had seen anyone else train, to become the strong person she had promised to be, and he watched as she succeeded, surpassing her father, and everyone else she knew.

He saw her on her first day of middle school, when she met a bully on the bus, and had to use every restraint she had to prevent herself from beating the crap out of him. He saw her finally belt the kid, when he picked on another small girl, one gohan recognized as Erasa. he saw her make friends with a stuck up blonde kid years later, for he felt that she sensed in Sharpner a good soul behind the veil of stuckupishness. Then he watched as she entered her first day at high school. All the while, from the day that her mother died, he felt within her a barrier to ward against affection. She feared closeness. Then he felt that change in her, when none other than himself came into her life. He was surprised to see the dream he had had when he went ss3 reflected in her own mind, as if they already shared a psychic connection.

He saw every day she spent with him, more of that barrier melted away. He knew of the unbound safeness she felt when around him, like she'd never have to be strong when she was around him. He saw through her eyes each almost kiss, and finally the release of the real thing. He felt her complete elation at finding out after the dance that he loved her back. And then he felt her sadness as she left him there in the crater where they trained. He felt her love return to him as they shared their passionate embrace that very night. And he knew now more than ever, they were meant for each other. They had bonded.

Meanwhile

Videl could not quite comprehend what she was seeing, but she knew it was immensely significant to gohan. She now watched through his eyes, his birth. She watched four years pass. Years of joy, when he got to spend time with both his parents, with the exception of the times when his father had to go off to fight someone named piccolo. A flash of memory from just after birth returned. Piccolo had come. He was a giant green man in a turban and cape, and he had come to take gohan away. However, through gohan, Videl felt no fear. When the green man walked up to the bassinet where gohan lay, and went to take him, gohan grasped piccolo's finger, and he stumbled in his actions. When goku burst through the door, a look of rare anger on his face, piccolo simply let go of the young gohan, placed him down carefully, and turned to face his former mortal enemy.

"kids got a strong grip, goku. Raise him to be strong, and he'll surpass both of us."

And the green man simply left, a small smile on his face.

As the years passed, Videl watched as gohan faced new enemies, and didn't always succeed. When facing Nappa, the big brute of a saiyan who came with Vegeta, gohan failed to do his part, and his friends suffered for it. She also watched as his true power and noble spirit allowed him to do fantastic things. He saved a young Namek named Dende on planet Namek, and they became fast friends. Videl looked on as gohan received an unlock of his true power by guru, the leader of the Nameks, and the creator of the dragonballs. Videl watched gohan, as he watched as his father faced Frieza, and knew he would have to face the evils of the world one day, and defeat them, or be destroyed. Over the years, Videl saw, that he came to understand that defending the world was his lot in life.

When an older version of trunks arrived a year after they left Namek, completely confusing Videl's sense of time, when they awaited the arrival of goku, who was supposed to arrive that day, gohan was fully prepared to fight him if he was evil, despite his super saiyan powers. When he trained in the hyperbolic time chamber, Videl watched as he learned every technique he possibly could to become strong, like his father. In that time, he realized the power within himself, when he realized how many times he had let down his friends and family by hesitating, and his anger boosted him to the maximum of the next level – he became a super saiyan.

When they fought the androids, his father debilitated by the heart disease, he fought to save everything he ever loved. Then came cell, and the fusion of Kami and piccolo to obtain greater strength. When cell achieved perfect form, gohan fought him, but held back once more. as always, his naiveté made him retain the belief that nothing can be all evil. For this reason, and for the safety of those he cared for, just in case he couldn't control the power within, he held back one last time.

Finally, when android 16's head arrived and spoke with him, willing him to fight, gohan prepared himself, but still, Videl felt through his emotions, he couldn't bring himself to unlock his secret power. then, when cell stepped on android 16's head, destroying the noble android once and for all, gohan realized he had held back for too long. Videl felt his power rise up from within, and finally burst to the surface. The force of the transformation was tremendous. Out of the fire of loss, stepped a new gohan. This one far more powerful than any other being. Not even cell stood a chance. Now gohan learned a second lesson. Vengeance is not a path traveled without toll. Cell, realizing that gohan was too powerful, decided to self destruct, killing them both. In order to prevent this, goku latched onto the organic androids back, and instant transmitted them out of range of the z-senshi.

Unfortunately, cell survived, and goku was gone. This made gohan feel like giving up was his only remaining task in life, but goku, speaking from Otherworld, cheered him on, and gohan had the strength to go on. In a tremendous Kamehameha battle, which gohan, quite literally single handedly won.

Afterwards, when they prepared to wish goku back using the Namekian dragonballs, goku spoke once again, and, ignoring Gohan's pleas for him to return, decided that for the safety of all, it would be better if he stayed in Otherworld.

To Videl, the next seven years were a blur. She watched him train, become stronger, more handsome, and more noble. She watched him mature, and still hold that innocence he always seemed to have. Then she watched the night before his first day of school, how he shared that dream with her, and how he had gone what could only be ss3. then she watched through the coming months, how he really was in love with her from the start. Even before they knew each other, she realized now, they were in love. It was only a matter of falling deeper. She watched every event right up to this night. Their first kiss, and their most recent. Their passionate bite.

'Wait a minute, he bit me? I bit him back! What was that about?'

and then, she woke up.

When they woke, they somehow felt their hearts beating in tune with each other. They were more now than they had ever been. They were themselves, and they were of one soul, simultaneously.

'what happened?' Videl thought.

'I may have an idea, but I'm not entirely sure.' Gohan responded in thought. It took a few seconds for what just happened to sink in, and then

""HOLY SHIT!"" was their combined response.

"did you – did I… did we!" they nodded slowly, and sat in silence for a few moments. Videl regained her composure first.

"so… what's going on that we can suddenly communicate telepathically?"

"I'm not sure, but my theory is that we've bonded in spirit."

"what?"

"it's a saiyan thing. The way my mom and Bulma explained it to me goes like this.

"When two saiyans, or, in this case, one saiyan and one human, share a special connection, one of love, and are bonded through it, they have the ability to become bonded in spirit as well. They never told me how to do it, said it was sort of an instinctual thing. As to the telepathy, they didn't mention that, either. What I do know, is that if the two partners in the bonding aren't made for each other, when they wake up, they never shared the dream, and the mark that preceded the sharing would be gone. I would assume that mark is –"

they simultaneously reached up and touched the bite on their respective necks.

Gohan lowered his head.

"Videl, I know you love me, and I love you, but if you want some time apart from me, to deal with this, I'll understand. Even… even if I never get the chance to see you again, I'll respect your wishes."

He simply sat down on the bed they had been lying on earlier, and said no more. Videl sidled up next to him, took his chin in her hands, and turned his head to her for a kiss.

"gohan, your right. We do love each other. This mark proves that to be permanent. _And I wouldn't have it any other way.'_

She spoke the last words in thought, and they kissed again. They fell to the bed, but gohan had other plans. He levitated them off of the bed, and out the window. To his surprise, Videl was doing some levitating herself.

'How are you flying?'

'I guess I just pulled it up from your memories.'

'We'll have to see what else you can do using only my memories.'

Videl groaned with impatience.

'Can't it wait until _after_?'

gohan smiled, and kissed her harder.

'I'll take that as a yes.'

It was fortunate chi chi and Goten would be out until the following evening, and Hercule had left on a tour of his gyms just after gohan had left the Satan mansion, because gohan and Videl spent the rest of the night and most of the following morning consummating their love.

When they finally did decide to test Videl's powers, their bonding appeared to increase both their power levels. This increase was most prominent in Videl. Her strength now more than equaled Krillin's, whose strength gohan had been using to gage her by. She now could easily spar on level with any of the z-senshi. She also now knew every technique gohan knew. Although some she didn't have the prerequisite to use, most attacks she mastered in one or two tries. She could fly, shoot ki blasts, and use the afterimage technique as well as any other of the z-senshi.

"here's a funny tidbit of info about your father, by the way. Not only are you and pretty much everyone else stronger than him, but my mom is stronger than him!" said gohan, playfully provoking Videl onto the attack. Rather than attack him, Videl tackled him, kissing him deeply as she did so. He eventually gave in under the "force" of her "attack", and they made out for a few minutes, before running out of breath, getting up, and going back to the son home. Chi chi immediately noticed the bite mark, smiled very widely, and ran around the house screaming "grandchildren, grandchildren," again. This made Goten completely bewildered, and he simply left the room.

The following day was school, and when they left, they made a race of it, flying at hyper speed to reach Hercule city. Even though Videl now knew her power would never surpass Gohan's, she was now truly confident in her fighting abilities, being one of the strongest humans on earth. When they arrived in school, holding hands, they were an immediate source of gossip, but neither cared. They were together again, now more than ever, and that was all that mattered.

Throughout the day, gohan, having already learned to block his thoughts from Videl, as had she, was contemplating Videl's lack of a real family. All she had was her father, and that counted for almost nothing. Eventually, he decided upon a plan. When he left school that day, he made sure to tell Erasa and Sharpner to distract Videl for the next few days, and he made it very clear when he said "see you later Videl," that Videl wasn't visiting Gohan's house that day.

Ten days passed, and Videl began wondering what had become of gohan. Had he given up on her, was that why he avoided her after school? No, that made no sense. He talked to her in school all the time, and stole kisses whenever the chance arose. Every time she tried to call him, he got on the line, said he had to go, and hung up. When she tried to telepathically contact him, she got a sort of busy signal type thing, where the only thing she got back from gohan was dead air. She was now arguing with herself as to whether or not to try again, when a cryptic message entered her head.

'go to your window.'

She knew it could be none other than gohan, since he was the only one who could contact her like that, so she went to her window. There he stood, resplendent in his red and blue training gi, standing there in mid air. He wrapped his arms around her, and whispered sweet nothings in her ear. Well, not sweet nothings – he said "close your eyes."

Videl couldn't for the life of her believe that was a sweet nothing, so much as it was a suggestion. She closed her eyes, and felt a rush of air around her. Not a second later, gohan said "open your eyes," so she did. There, standing before her, was everyone from Gohan's past. Krillin with 18 and Marron, Tien, Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Bulma, Vegeta (off to the side, being aloof and looking as arrogant as ever) trunks, chi chi, Goten, (master Roshi was thankfully absent, probably on purpose since he was always a disturbed pervert around young women), and at the front of the line, piccolo, smiling for once, and Dende, the guardian of earth. Piccolo looked at gohan.

"You picked a good one kid. I can sense her strength, both of body, and of soul. She's definitely the perfect match."

"gohan, what is all this?"

"well," he said, "I realized the only people you have to rely on are me, Erasa, Sharpner, and your father. That may be something, but I watched through your memories how much you wish you had a complete family, well, as far as I, and all these people are concerned, you're a part of me, just as I am of you, and that makes us your family."

"oh, gohan, thank you so much!" she grabbed him, holding him tightly, tears of joy streaming down her face.

She spent the rest of the day getting to know her new family, and she found all of them to be wonderful (with the exception of Vegeta, who no one could really deal with for more than a half an hour). Krillin and his family were kind, and welcomed her right into the fold, as if she'd been there from the start. Tien and Chiaotzu were like brothers and opposites. Tien was serious, but not unkind, while Chiaotzu was playful and light hearted. Yamcha, ever with his shape shifting cat friend, Puar, was pleasant, but seemed to have an even harder time around Vegeta than anyone else. Dende was kind, warm hearted, and clearly Gohan's closest friend, since they were on the same maturity level. Piccolo was by far the best to meet. After sharing Gohan's memories, he was almost like a second father as well.

When she was done meeting everyone, she felt something lacking in the experience, and gohan felt her disappointment through their bond. He came up to her.

"The thing that's lacking here is the thing that kept all these people together for half my lifetime, but died seven years ago, causing all of us to drift apart. That thing that is missing is my father, goku."

Videl nodded sadly. She had watched Gohan's life through his eyes, and knew how he felt about his father's death. In a way, she felt the same unbearable pain, not just at the loss of her own mother, but for the loss of a father she never knew. Nonetheless, the experience of meeting her new family was elating.


	11. Chapter 11

Three weeks later

Gohan and Videl were hanging out in the park, or rather, above it, when they both sensed a familiar ki signal coming from around two hundred feet above them.

''Vegeta?''

not only was the ki close, but it was super saiyan two, and getting closer. Gohan wrapped his arms tighter around Videl, and instantly transmitted them to the nearest point of intersection to Vegeta's flight path. Judging by his speed, he was definitely going at a ss2 speed, and if he was seen, he would cause a riot. He turned in his path just as Vegeta went zooming past him. He flew up next to the saiyan prince.

"Hey Vegeta! What's up!"

the startled prince swung around, and gohan just barely dodged his ki attack.

"oh! Why don't you just give me a heart attack, huh brat! And I see you've got your brat mate with you, eh?"

"Vegeta, what are you doing flying at me in super saiyan 2?"

"well, I was planning on using ss3, but the Namek said it would scare everyone away, so I bent his rules just a bit. Stubborn green jackass."

Gohan rolled his eyes. It was just like Vegeta to "bend the rules" just so he could show off.

"wait a minute! I didn't sense you going ss3! When did that happen?"

"five months ago, when I was waiting for you to get out of the time chamber so I could train, dolt. I was up three hours straight waiting, and I had nothing better to do, so I gave it a try."

Gohan just smirked.

"What's so funny brat?"

"Well, I must say, that would be impressive, if I didn't sense my dad do it about three weeks before that!"

"WHAT! Damn you Kakarot! One day, I swear, I will beat you, if it takes me until we meet in Otherworld!"

gohan was still smirking. Vegeta sighed.

"Let me guess, that space time rift that night was you becoming a more powerful ss3 than me or your idiot father, right? Oh well, there's always the next level, I suppose. That reminds me. The Namek said he wants to talk to you. Says it's important."

"What's up?" asked Videl. Vegeta looked on her contemptuously.

"The green pain in the ass wouldn't say – only that it was a matter of vital importance to the safety of the universe or something like that. Better get there, pronto."

"right." Gohan smirked again. He loved annoying his father's rival. It was like his favorite pastime.

"What's so funny now?"

"I guess the best way to get there would be to use instant transmission, no?" Vegeta nodded, before comprehending what gohan said.

"What! You know the instant – "

he was cut off by a flash of light, and gohan was gone. Vegeta looked up at the sky.

"You know what Kakarot? Even if I can't beat you, or that brat of yours, I suppose I can deal with my son kicking your other one's ass when they become super saiyans." Goku, who was far too busy eating with five mysterious other diners in Grand Kai's buffet room, his mind completely occupied by the food, to notice this comment from his rival in another dimension.

When gohan and Videl reached Kami's lookout a moment later, they were greeted by the grim faces of his first master, and close friend. Piccolo's face was always grim, so it was nothing new, and he could always sense the slight affection that came from the Namek that was like a second father to him. Dende, however, was a rare sight in a grim state. He was almost always jovial and glad to see gohan. Gohan could tell immediately from these hints that something was up. Nevertheless, he embraced his friend, the earth's guardian, and smiled respectfully while he shook hands with piccolo.

"it's a good thing you've reached super saiyan 3 when you did, and especially good that you did with such power."

"How much trouble are we in?"

"Not us. You."

This was new. Gohan had always, despite his strength, played a small role in the plans of those he defeated, as compared to his father and the other z-senshi.

"Me?"

"Cell." A chill ran down Gohan's spine. This was a threat of his nightmares.

"When?"

"We don't know. You could have three days, or three years. All we know is, I've sensed his energy in the near future."

"How?"

"You're not one for words today, are you? I sensed him the same way I taught you to sense your father in Otherworld. I followed the psychic path through those linked to me in blood. He's coming, as is my own worst fear."

"Another one?"

"King piccolo."

"That is correct, former guardian." They all turned to see a small purple man with a silver mohawk, flanked by a large magenta fellow and a tall bearded man with sunglasses, all in the same garb. Behind them, were four others, standing in the shadows. Gohan prepared for a fight, until he saw a familiar spiky haired head step out of the shadows.

"Hey gohan!"

"Dad!"

"Indeed, young saiyan." Said the purple man,

"as well as several others, some you may recognize, some you may find familiar, though you've never met them."

Out of the shadows stepped android 16, a green man dressed like and bearing a striking resemblance to piccolo, and a man in saiyan armor that looked exactly like Gohan's father, though perhaps slightly older, with a look of great wisdom in his eyes, and a scar down the left side of his face.

"Gohan, meet Pikkon; the fighter I beat in the Otherworld tournament when I went ss3, and your saiyan grandfather, Bardock."

Pikkon stepped up to look at piccolo,

"so, this is the piccolo you've told me I am so much like." They stared each other down with ferocity that gohan only thought piccolo was capable of displaying through a stare. Bardock and goku stepped up simultaneously. He gave Bardock a strong handshake, and embraced his dad, tears in his eyes.

"dad… I thought you were never going to come back."

"Well, considering this new threat is coming after you, and not me, I offered my help to supreme kai, here, and he allowed me and some other fighters back at my suggestion."

"gohan, that's your dad, isn't it?"

gohan nodded happily. He was too emotional at the moment for words, or even telepathic communication.

"and this must be Videl!" said goku. "well, aren't you going to give your future father-in-law a hug?"

although she was not entirely used to hugging people so often, she hugged him anyway. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

16 stepped up to greet gohan.

"it is good to see you gohan. I am glad you have defeated cell."

"It's good to see you too, 16, but how did you get back to life? I thought you were all machine, and therefore couldn't go to Otherworld."

"Well, my A.I. is of an extremely advanced programming, and, for the sacrifice I made to try to stop cell, I was given a soul, and permitted to go to Otherworld. Although, as penance for my previous actions, I was sent to HFIL for the first five years of my stay in Otherworld." With all of the reminiscing, they hardly noticed piccolo and dende backing up, and bowing so low their heads touched the ground.

"hey, piccolo, what's up?"

"th-that's the supreme kai…which means that one of the other ones must be the grand kai!" said Dende.

"indeed, guardian. You have discovered our identities. I am the supreme kai, this is my friend and bodyguard, Kibito, and this – " he pointed to the man with the sunglasses and beard, "is my most esteemed fellow kai, the grand kai."

"okay, so, what's the story guys? How big a threat and how far away that I need the rulers of the universe and the nether realms, and a whole group of dead, however incredibly strong fighters with me?" Said gohan,

"I'd ask the same question." Said Vegeta, who had just arrived on the scene.

"my prince." Said Bardock, who immediately bowed. Goku simply nodded his head slightly.

"Vegeta."

The saiyan prince walked up, and actually extended his hand.

"it's good to have you back, Kakarot. I was afraid for quite a while that I'd be stuck babysitting your brat every time we have to do battle." Goku took his hand, and a grip contest ensued. In the end, as usual, goku was the victor, and Vegeta walked away with a sour look on his face.

Gohan turned to the supreme kai.

"you didn't answer my question."

The kai was about to answer, when Kibito cut in front of him.

"of all the insolent life forms! You honestly believe you have a right to claim that the supreme ruler of the universe is wrong!"

the short purple ruler of the entire universe put a hand on his big friends shoulder.

"calm yourself, Kibito. You forget, this one is used to speaking as an equal to the Kami of this planet, and considering his power far exceeds not only everyone else's, but it also far exceeds our own.

"as to the origins of the threat, that, I can explain. Several millennia ago, an evil wizard named Bibidi unleashed a horror upon the world unlike any other. This creature, Majin Buu, was summoned from the pits of ultimate evil within men's souls. It was the ultimate evil, and powerful enough to nearly destroy the entire universe. When the time came to defend the universe, all the Kai's fell before the mighty Majin Buu. Even the supreme kai, who died saving my life. The supreme kai was absorbed by Buu. This was a fortunate turn of events, because the kindness in the soul of the supreme kai transformed Buu's evil heart. The evil within him was balanced, and he became childlike – innocent, yet still unbelievably powerful. Eventually, however, Bibidi found Buu to be too hard to control, and sealed him up in a ball for safe keeping. When I killed Bibidi, he dropped the ball that was Majin Buu through a space time rift, to fall there for eternity.

"However, somehow that rift reopened into our dimension, and the ball was recovered two thousand years ago by none other than Bibidi's son, Babidi. For the past two thousand years, Babidi has been flitting throughout the universe, searching for its strongest fighters, to use their strength to resurrect Buu. Until now, he has failed to obtain enough energy. Of the last hundred years, he has been observing the earth, for reasons unknown, and for that reason, we have been observing him. We watched, as did he, as the most powerful beings in the living world were born here.

"We saw as well how nearly all of you were pure of heart, and those who weren't had strong enough will, that he couldn't control any of you enough to use your strength. We had thought his plans were foiled, until yesterday, when Babidi found a way into HFIL. We don't know exactly how he did it, but it doesn't much matter. He has resurrected all of your most fearsome foes to pit them against you, and he now has the power he needs. It will only be a matter of months before they come to earth. At the moment, according to reports from king Yemma, they are still training there, conquering Otherworld and defeating all opposition and competition.

"In the end, we, who have only once before intervened in mortal affairs, must now do far more than to simply intervene. We must beg you, the strongest fighter in the universe, to defeat the ultimate evil, before it is too late."

"so, who are we up against?"

"Your king piccolo, cell, Frieza, and one other, a saiyan relation of yours. The name escapes me."

Bardock spoke up. "my eldest son, your uncle, Raditz."

Gohan quickly added up the power levels of all the fighters, added a percent of his own and that of the z-senshi, and came up with a power level for Majin Buu that would make him near impossible to defeat.

"I just did the calculations. I may be the strongest fighter around, but I don't have the strength to defeat the kind of power you're telling be Majin Buu might have."

"that's why we're here. On our home planet, there is embedded in a stone pillar, a sword of ultimate power. this sword, the legacy sword, is your sword. On it is the following inscription – _one of half blood and pure of heart, may draw the sword from its sheath of stone, and the one to defeat the true evil, shall be he and he alone. _It is a prophecy laid out by the eldest of Kai's – sixteen generations prior to my own existence. We must take you there, to the home planet of the Kai's, and train you in the way of the kais, that you might have the power to draw the sword.

"you have one week to prepare yourself for the journey."

Gohan nodded firmly. He knew this was a necessary path. The Kais wouldn't tell him false. Videl, however, who had been standing silently by, observing, now leapt on her bond mate.

"no gohan! You can't go! I don't know if I can last with you so far away! In another dimension, even. I'd die!"

goku stepped up, because he realized the truth in this. They were bond mates, and could not easily survive without connection to each other.

"Supreme kai, this wont work. They're bond mates now. I remember what it was like when I left for the hyperbolic time chamber. I'm a super saiyan, and I've got a strong will, so I survived a year, and my wife is a strong human, so she survived a day, but several months for both of them? It would kill one of them, and the other one would just follow into death."

The kai nodded thoughtfully. "I will think upon this dilemma. Until then, you have your week's preparation time to think of your own solution."

"why can't she just come with us?" asked gohan

"She is mortal, and although so are you, you are the chosen, and must come to our planet to draw the sword."

"I've got two responses to that reasoning. One, we're bonded, so she's part of me, therefore we're both the chosen, and two, if she doesn't come, and we both die because of it, then nobody can beat this monster of yours. And three, if she cant come, I wont."

"that was three responses."

"I know, and their all valid."

The kai sighed, and nodded. "alright. Your week will be cut in half, since your bringing the largest part of your life with you, so you have three days."

"yes!"

and the two bond mates kissed joyfully.

_I know, they kiss almost as much as they used to blush, but I'm a hopeless romantic, so sue me. _


	12. Chapter 12

_Dear readers, I know some things in this chapter may be vastly inaccurate, however, I never saw the movie where trunks gets his sword, and am just winging it with this one._

One week later

Gohan and Videl had spent the last week explaining their respective lies about why they were going to be gone to their teachers. Meanwhile, piccolo trained with Pikkon, goku with Vegeta, Tien with Yamcha, Krillin with Chiaotzu, trunks with Goten, each fighter choosing their respective equal, mainly by physical stature, as opposed to strength, under Goku's mysterious request. All of them trained in the hyperbolic time chamber. When he began his training, Vegeta was quite happy to train against goku, since Bardock, who had searched Otherworld for his saiyan brethren, had found a legendary saiyan armory of weapons designed with ki power of their own, and therefore passed into Otherworld when planet Vegeta was destroyed. He gave to Vegeta the most masterful blade, a blade that the king Vegeta three generations prior had wielded.

Bardock himself kept a similar weapon, and had brought one for goku as well, but goku, who knew his son would want to return the power pole, decided to leave it in Otherworld. Vegeta had thought that if he couldn't beat goku in strength, speed, or power level, he would at least have the better weapon, but Goku's power pole proved an equal weapon to Vegeta's sword in the end.

When gohan and Videl had finished with their preparations at the end of the week, Bulma held a huge going away party for the couple at capsule corp. that was when it happened. Halfway through the party, they sensed a ss2 equivalent power level, coming from the storage area of capsule corp. upon sensing it, they prepared for battle, and went in to the room. What they found was a disaster area. The smoke was blinding, but they could just make out the silhouette of a ship through the smog. Suddenly, the smoke was pulled out by the storage room exhaust system, and what they made out from the charred remains of the ship, was that it was a time machine. A capsule corp time machine. One of a kind, it was the ship that Mirai trunks had used to come to warn them of the coming of dr. Gero's androids.

Suddenly, the hatch opened. Out stepped none other than a battered, beaten, and bloody Mirai trunks. He seemed to have built himself up a bit, but he was none the less in horrible shape.

"Dead…they're all… dead." And he collapsed.

When the young super saiyan from another time line awoke, it was to the barkish taste of a sensu bean in his mouth. He sat up.

"I have to – have to warn you! Cell and Frieza, they're coming back!"

he grabbed the nearest person, who happened to be gohan.

"you… who are you?"

he asked, his vision only beginning to clear.

"g-gohan? It can't be…"

"no trunks, It's not the gohan from your time. It's me, the younger gohan. The one who beat cell. It's just been seven years since your last visit, and speaking of which, what brings you back to us, and in such shape!"

"Seven years? No… it can't be… I'm too late…" he slumped back into his pillow.

"Trunks, just calm down, and tell us what happened." Said Videl, who, although she had never met this trunks, she felt she already knew the boy.

"who are you?" he asked.

"this is my mate, Videl." Said gohan, and Videl blushed at the introduction. Gohan picked her up and spun her around.

"what's there to be embarrassed about? You're my life mate, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

She giggled and hugged him. These antics struck a chord in trunks, and he realized something he had forgotten.

"Atla!"

he burst from the bed, and rushed down the hall he knew so well from his own time zone. Gohan and Videl followed. He ran to the room where they had found him in his time machine. There, they were met by the supreme kai, and Kibito.

"it is all right, young saiyan. Atla is safe. When the others brought you to the infirmary, we discovered her and brought her to the infirmary as well, and treated her. I am amazed that a guardian would fare as well as she did outside her realm of observation. Come, return to the infirmary with us, and you may see her. She is still unconscious, but healed.

"who is she?" gohan asked trunks, as they looked over the sleeping form of a young silver haired girl, roughly the same age as the two half saiyans – around eighteen, with pointed ears and pale skin.

"she is… my life mate…" tears welled up in the eyes of the saiyan

"and I almost lost her… pray you never come to know what that's like." Gohan nodded. This was not a time for words.

When she awoke, an hour later, the tale began.

"it was about two months after I defeated cell in my own timeline. The world was rebuilding, when my mother spotted what appeared to be a ship plummeting out of a rift in timespace, about to hit earth. I used my super saiyan power to close the rift, and rescued the ship. I know we have a bad history with things falling out of the sky, and being some kind of undefeatable evil, but I had a hunch that this wasn't the case. I rescued the pod, and revived the girl inside of it. Atla awoke with very little memory of anything, besides observing the latter half of my life, and sympathizing. My mother determined that her ship was locked in orbit around the earth in a kind of invisible, intangible "observers dimension" that could see into ours. Her ship malfunctioned,. And had I not gotten there in time to save her, her life support systems would have shut down, and she would have died. Over the next year, we fell in love, and we bonded. There's not much else to know about that.

"Then, two days ago, I sensed a strong evil energy approach. I prepared myself to meet it, but nothing could prepare me for it's power. I watched the evil wizard Babidi approach, his new minions, cell, in perfect form, and Frieza in a new form in tow. Their power was immense. I fought them, and failed. At the command of Babidi, I was made to watch as they slowly slaughtered the entire population of earth, starting at the opposite end from my home. When we did reach my home in new west city, it was only to watch as the fiends killed my mother. I was nearing the limits of super saiyan rage, and coming to super saiyan two when it happened, but then they prepared to kill Atla, and that was as far as they got. I was pushed over the edge, and to a new level of super saiyan 2.

"I broke free, and defeated cell and Frieza with little enough effort. What I didn't know was that this was just what Babidi wanted."

Trunks paused, and shed a tear for the trillions of lives lost while he sat helpless.

"he used my energy… to resurrect a creature named Majin Buu. It was just too strong… I couldn't defeat it, and when it saw my helplessness, the creature prepared a finishing blast, one enough to destroy the earth twice over. When I thought of all those who had died, and Atla being next, and then the universe that would fall after that, my outrage gave me just enough energy to grab Atla, and get us to my time machine. Three minutes later, and here I was. and, like I said, I've failed to warn you in time. They'll be here in months. That's not nearly enough time to prepare."

"it's all right trunks. This guy here is the supreme kai. He came to warn us a week ago, and with his training, I'll be prepared enough for the battle ahead that we're sure to win." Trunks nodded, slightly more reassured, but still in a rather traumatized state from his ordeal.

Bulma came in, Vegeta following. Bulma hugged trunks, and Vegeta grasped hands with him.

"Good to see you, trunks! But I guess we can't call you trunks any more, now can we?" she looked over, and saw that little trunks and Goten were hiding behind the door.

"Come on out, you two."

The two young boys came out and trunks asked

"mom, who's this, and why did you call him trunks?"

"Well, trunks, you remember I told you about the warrior from the future who came to warn us about the androids? Well, that was a future you."

"I'm going to be that cool looking when I get older? Awesome!"

the older trunks smiled at this.

"Well, I guess you can call me Mirai, since that's what I am, a being from the future."

Bulma thought on this a moment, and agreed.

"Cool! Hey Goten, now I've got a big brother too! That is, if you'll stay, Pleeaase?"

"That's really up to mom, now isn't it?" said Mirai.

"You're always welcome in my house. You're my son, after all!" said Bulma.

When Mirai was fully recovered, gohan decided to test his new super saiyan strength. They sparred, and it turned out that Mirai had achieved a super saiyan level, that, like Gohan's, was nearly equivalent to ss3. Then Mirai drew out his sword, and was stopped by a gasp from the Kais.

"wh-where did you get th-that sword?" asked the supreme kai,

"I've always wondered that too, Mirai, so where did you get it?"

"long story."

"we've got nothing but time." Said the supreme kai, clearly intrigued by the sword for some reason.

"well, about a year after the gohan from my time line's death, the androids were "vacationing" on the other side of the planet, and this weird guy came to earth with this music box. He said it was vital it be opened so that the super warrior inside could come out and defeat the evil on his planet. I know what its like to have fear from an evil terrorizing your home, and I was hoping maybe this super warrior guy could help us with the androids, so I used super saiyan strength to open it, and out steps this guy named Tapion. Tapion is a real nice guy, but he grabs me by the shoulders, asking me why I have condemned myself to this fate, and what have I done.

"Meanwhile, the short guy behind me, who turns out to be this evil sorcerer, takes out one half of this thing that looks like a shriveled newt, and throws it at Tapion. Tapion suddenly gets still, and this immense creature bursts out of his chest. The creature, called Hildegarn, was naturally evil, and had to be stopped. According to Tapion, he originally used this magical ocarina to seal half of the beast inside himself, having used his sword to cut it in half. This doesn't work this time though, and Tapion has to fight it. He gets crushed, hands me his sword, and tells me to try to kill the creature, or all is lost. I go super saiyan, use the sword, destroy the thing, and then kill the sorcerer. A month later, Tapion is healed, and had told me and my mom his tale.

"3000 years ago, Hildegarn was created by a bunch of evil sorcerers on his planet, and the ocarina was the only thing that could stop it. His sword is a sword of legend and was the only thing that could penetrate Hildegarn's skin. He said I was really the right one to use the sword, gives it to me, and flies off to find whatever is left of his home world 3000 years later."

The kai nodded in amazement.

"indeed. I understand now. That sword is a sword called the godsend blade, made by the kais of ancient past, it was forged as a sister sword to the legacy sword we want gohan to retrieve. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in our timeline by a creature called Hildegarn. But now, it is returned. Tell me, have you bonded with it?"

"what?" asked Mirai,

"weapon bonding. It is a technique piccolo taught me. It allows you to meld your ki with the blade, leaving you better able to manipulate your weapon. Here, try it."

Gohan demonstrated the method, Mirai repeated it, and a blinding light covered the boy. The sword sang, and the light dissipated. Gohan sensed a change in Mirai now.

"Mirai, can you feel it? Your strength has nearly doubled! Your probably able to go ss3 now!"

"indeed." Said the supreme kai. He seemed to say this a lot, but this was natural – indeed was a flowery word, and kais were prone to using such terms as often as possible.

"the gift of the godsend blade is an instant power boost. You now do have the power to go ss3, and you too must come with us to the planet of the Kai's to train." Gohan already knew the question that was coming.

"Can Atla come?"

"Of course."

"WHAT!" exclaimed gohan, exasperated,

"you put me through hell trying to allow Videl to come with me, and you just say yes to him?"

the kai nodded in a no nonsense way.

"Atla is a kai guardian, not a normal mortal. She has every right to come with us. The kai home world is her home world." The two half saiyans were now completely dumbstruck, and Atla, standing nearby, was now quite curious.

"Atla was created by the kais of your time dimension to watch over the saiyan race. Since you were the last saiyan, she watched over you, but her suspension-observation chamber malfunctioned, opened a warp zone into your dimension, and she fell through. She lost all memory of everything before observing you, and therefore, you were the only shred of her life that was left anywhere. She would have died without you, and its no wonder you two fell in love. You were her last link to the world. You saved her from darkness. Because of your bond, she's mortal now, but I doubt she has any objections."

Atla shook her head.

"it is nice to know something of my past, but Mirai is my life now. I love him, and that is the way it shall be."

she smiled her shy smile, and took Mirai's hand. He looked up at her lovingly, and smiled back.

That evening, they all said their final goodbyes to their friends, and left for the kai home world, on the instant transmission power of the kais. When the two half saiyans, their mates, and the kais had left, goku smiled and looked around at everyone.

"well everybody, lets get to work."


	13. Chapter 13

When they arrived on the planet of the kais, gohan and trunks were unsurprised to find the gravity thirty times that of earth. This was no problem for the two, a little bit of trouble for Videl, who, although she had strength greater than any other human z-senshi, and therefore greater than any other human, she was wearing weighted training clothes, and had some trouble adjusting. Atla, being a ki guardian, was assumedly born on the planet of the Kai's, and had no problem hovering approximately 2 inches above the ground. The training began almost immediately.

"the gravity here can be personally adjusted by raising your ki level, similar to your hyperbolic time chamber. The only difference – once your personal gravity goes up, it will not come down, so your first tasks are to power up to your maximums, and become as comfortable in that form as you can."

The two saiyans nodded, and began their power up. Videl and Atla watched in awe as their mates powered up to full strength. Being that they could now sense ki levels, they could easily tell that the two colossal ss3 powers standing before them were enough collaboratively to destroy the galaxy.

The sparring began. Were it not for the bond strengthening their senses, Videl and Atla would not have been able to watch the fight. gohan and Mirai moved with swiftness beyond any boundary. It was, however, clear the victor was to be gohan. Somehow, he had surpassed the basis of super saiyan 3, and was in a higher league of it than Mirai.

Back on earth

"Honestly, Kakarot, this is the most moronic exercise I have ever had the misfortune to engage in! Is it absolutely necessary to do this fusion thing, if we are to defeat the monster the Kais spoke of?"

the entire group, at Goku's suggestion, had been practicing the fusion dance for a week now, the only exceptions were piccolo and Pikkon, who were off training in the hyperbolic time chamber alone, everyone was "dancing." The first to complete the first stage of the fusion dance method, were Goten and trunks, followed by goku and Vegeta, largely because goku had convinced him that the only way to reach the sparring step in their training was to finish the fusion step first. Upon realization of this, Vegeta immediately put his best effort into it.

Finally, they began sparring. Everyone was awed at the immense power exhibited by goku and Vegeta in ss3. they moved faster than anything any of the other's had ever seen, and not a one, besides the other saiyans in the group could keep up with their movements. Naturally, due largely to the fact that goku had had a longer run in ss3, he held out longer against Vegeta, and won the match.

After several weeks of this, and the learning of several strategic paired techniques to perfect control over the fusion, they decided to put the training onto a new level.

"hey goku, why don't we go in pairs into the hyperbolic time chamber? I bet after we get out of one years training in there, we'll all kick ass!"

"not a bad idea Krillin, but we've got to wait for piccolo and Pikkon to get out first."

"I haven't been in there since the second day of my training, so you can go in if you want, it wont give me grief."

Everyone stopped. Nobody had sensed piccolo there, and when they all turned, they were met with quite a sight. There stood a being much like piccolo, with the exceptions of a third eye, a very large scimitar type sword, and a different outfit under the turban and cape everyone always recognized as piccolo.

"piccolo!"

"yep, with two K's now, Pikkon and the former piccolo decided on the name."

"b-but how did you fuse? Pikkon wasn't a Namek!"

Pikkolo pointed to his ears, each had a small earring attached to it.

"potara earrings. These are the earrings the Kai's wear, and they have a few special properties. Supreme kai gave several pairs to Pikkon before he left. By wearing one on each opposing ear, one can fuse. Permanently."

"but we've got the fusion dance technique, why would we need these?" asked goku.

"I've got a theory, that if the two fusion methods are used together, it would create a more powerful fusion that will last as long as the wearer of the earrings wants it to. Here, let me demonstrate. Goku, Vegeta, power up to maximum, and fuse. Goten, trunks, you two do the same."

The result was two annoyingly curious and bigheaded fighters named Gotenks, and Gogeta. As they were bouncing around the room like kids on a sugar high, Pikkolo grabbed the two fused warriors by the ears, put on a pair of the earrings, and they were pulled together by an unseen force almost immediately. The new result was a warrior about Gohan's age, with black hair with purple streaks.

"I give you – _what's your name, kid?"_

"Gogetunks"

"goge- what! What the hell kind of a name is that!"

the new warrior sighed, and rubbed his temples.

"Name's Gogetunks, and this Buu guy everyone's training so hard to fight, well, he's as good as dead."

He smirked, Pikkolo snuck up behind him, and ripped the earrings off of Gogetunks. His last words before completely defusing were "ow!" the four saiyans who fell out of the fusion rubbed their ears in pain.

"Clearly, if our savior is as cocky as that kid, we've got a few kinks to work out of the fusion." Said Pikkolo.

At the kai home world

It had been four weeks of straight training between the two saiyans. They hadn't stopped for anything, and were getting quite tired. Finally, they both passed out, to the amazement of everyone that they had lasted as long as they did. Their battle aura had dissipated a week ago, having trained in ss3 for that long, they had mastered the form. "Kibito, go fetch the boys. They need rest, healing, and nourishment." The large magenta kai nodded. When the two had recovered, they ate enough for four weeks worth of saiyan meals, which was to be expected. Their strength had clearly increased to a new level of ss3 at that point. From the beginning, gohan had been the superior fighter, but by now they had balanced their abilities to being even.

"Task two. You must learn the sacred kai styles of fighting, from myself and the grand kai. This is something you can do as well, ladies."

Over the next month, the four learned everything the kais had to teach. They learned the power of positive ki energy, how it flows in one direction, and is paralleled by the negative, flowing in the other direction. The positive added to the universe, and the negative took away. The two energies could either negate each other, or come to work together in harmony, creating either chaos, or divine power. The four of them, who for the most part had a relative mastery of the positive side, now had to learn to manipulate the negative.

The fighting was intense. Mirai was the first to use the negative power, and its ability to replace matter with nothingness was amazing. Gohan got control over the negative flow, and his dark Kamehameha completely obliterated the obstacles thrown at him by the Kais. In fact, the first time he tried it, had the kais not gotten out of the way, they would have been obliterated as well. It was clear that the negative flow energy was far harder to manipulate and control than the positive flow energy.

"Your final task before you can be trained in the ways of the kais, that gohan might draw the sword of legacy, is to master your use of the negative flow, and use it in unison with the positive, that you may come to understand the mastery of the kais." Said supreme kai, after they had all learned to use the negative flow.

Four months passed quickly, and without much event, besides them all mastering the negative flow by the end. The kais quickly taught them to use the two energy flows in unison, but stopped them before they could spar using the new energy, saying they needed to learn a base principal of divine energy before using it on an opponent.

"positive flow adds to the universe. It has the power, when used correctly, to conjure something into existence. Either light, fire, even matter. When used in the proper context, positive flow energy is the source of all things, including magic and ki. negative flow has the power to remove from existence anything that positive creates. Together, they can negate life itself, or be the basis for it. The primary rule of this, shall we call it, "alchemy," is that of equivalent trade; To gain, something of equal value must be lost. In other words, to put something new in the world, something else must be taken away. That is why when one of you uses ki, it transfers directly from your ki reserves, and when that is replaced, it is replaced by the energies of those who have died. In this way, equivalent trade controls all life. The way of the kais is that of divine power, and bypasses this rule altogether.

"Divine power enables the user, when used correctly, to create without destruction. When used incorrectly, however, it creates only chaos, therefor, divine power is considered the most tempermental and dangerous powers in the world. The kais of today never venture into what is now considered a forbidden art – the creation of new life forms. Only the kais of old had that kind of power, and even then, it is said they only created one perfect life form."

Before anyone could ask, the kai said "and before any one of you asks, no, I do not know what it was the kais of old created. All I know is that it is with that power as well, that the kais created the legacy sword, and the godsend sword. Now then. You now know the rules with which you are to learn the divine power of the kais. Shall we begin?"

Earth, two more months later

Everyone on earth had trained in the hyperbolic time chamber for two years, but the saiyans in the group had yet to reach ss4 not to mention they were beginning to doubt its existence, and the younger of the saiyans, namely Goten and trunks still hadn't reached ss3. however, the fused beings had reached ss3, and the elder of the two had come to it's mastery. Out of fear that the superfused Gogetunks might not want to separate back, they had refrained from testing his power since the first incident. As they pursued their training, Goku's internal fighting clock told him that a tenkachi budokai was coming up in the next few weeks, and, since Baba was up at Kami's lookout to watch them train for a while, goku got an idea.

"hey Baba! Why don't you go to Otherworld and see if you can't contact the kais, so gohan and Mirai can compete in the upcoming tournament. It'll give us a chance to test how far their skills have progressed!"

The old fortune teller groaned, and said "you know, goku, I'm not as young as I used to be. when next I do these errands for you, it'll probably be from the other side. But, as a favor, for all these times you've saved the earth, I'll do it."

The old woman flew off on her crystal ball, grumbling about likely nonexistent aches and pains.

"Alright! Hey everybody! Gohan and Mirai are coming back for a visit! What do you say we really kick our training into gear so when they get here, we can really show them what we've got! Whaddya say, everybody?"

there was a group groan, and Krillin stepped up as the group spokesperson.

"you mean we haven't been "kicking it into gear" this entire time?"

goku scratched his head in son fashion.

"well, I suppose we have… but whaddya say we do it even more!"

the groan turned into a group sweatdrop, but in the end, everyone agreed to push themselves even harder to prepare for the tournament.

Kai planet, three hours later

The two boys now fought in a hyperbolic time dimension outside of the cliff where the legacy sword was embedded in stone. It was basically a giant transparent and slightly purple orb surrounding the cliff. The two fought fast normally but in that dimension, like they had been for the past few days, (the equivalent of two years, so far) they were literally invisible. Videl could clearly sense Gohan's approach to the fourth super saiyan level, and Atla could sense likewise with Mirai. Over the past two months, the kais had taught them everything about the power of divinity, including seeing past a persons power level, to their true power, that power held in secret reserve, such as a super saiyan transformation, and the lack of power, caused by concealment. They could all now sense not only who was concealing their energy signal, but they could sense by how much they were doing so. They had become the pinnacle of fighting strength. Upon learning the new techniques, Videl increased her power to that of piccolo, before he merged with Kami, surpassed that, and achieved super saiyan strength status. Atla, although it could not be sensed by any save Mirai through their bond, was not far behind. Mirai and gohan had pushed themselves to the limits of their strength, but even then, could not achieve ss4.

It seemed, unlike with the other ss levels, ss4 required a certain unseen prerequisite that neither of them had. Perhaps it was the lack of current threat – that they were only sparring at the moment, and had no current enemy. Perhaps it was simply a lack of physical strength, or perhaps it was simply that there was no level beyond ss3. Neither could tell what the reason was. Throughout it all, gohan remained slightly stronger than Mirai. Mirai had come into the belief that the briefs family would always be second to the sons, and he was perfectly okay with that. Never in a million years would he wish the burden of earth's one true savior upon himself. He had a large enough load to carry simply as one of the people who helped.

It was then that Baba arrived. The kais were watching the fight, and didn't sense the fortune teller's energy, so when she appeared right behind them, the three kais were extremely startled

"an earth woman! What are you doing here? This is the planet of the kais! Only the kais know how to get here!"

"don't remind me." Said Baba.

"it's hard enough finding someone to give you directions to a place, but it's harder still when there's no one around to give you directions. In the end, I had to use my crystal ball. My crystal ball! Do you have any idea the toll that puts on an old woman's bones, when she's trying to find something as elusive as the legendary planet of the kais? No, you don't have any idea. How could you have any idea. Oh, well. I've got a message for the saiyans. If you could get them out of that time and space bubble you've got there, perhaps I could deliver it?"

the supreme kai, still bewildered, nodded, stepped over to the bubble, and stepped directly inside. The new power level inside the bubble, however small, got the saiyans attention immediately. Less than an outside world millisecond, they were outside the bubble.

"hey, Baba! What's up?"

"your father says hi, and that there's an upcoming world tournament on earth you might want to participate in. it'll give you a chance to gage everyone's new strength."

Gohan would jump at the opportunity to participate in a world tournament. In his entire fighting life, never once had he participated in the tournament his dad had won twice.

"I'm up for it, how 'bout you Mirai?"

"if you're okay with me kicking your ass when we get there." Said Mirai,

"we'll just see about that. But we'll have to train real hard for the rest of the week, if we really want to show everyone what we've got."

"you're forgetting something." Said the supreme kai.

"you haven't completed your training yet. You still have to draw the legacy sword." Gohan nodded, and started off for the platform at the top of the cliff.

"Wait a moment! You must know of the tests the sword will give you, before you will be able to pull it out!"

gohan returned, and the kai elaborated.

"There are four tests you must pass in order for the sword to deem you worthy. First, the test of strength. It will test your strength in each super saiyan form by becoming heavier with each form you take. Second, the test of pain. Your body will be crippled by excruciating pain, and still you must endure. Third, the test of knowledge. I am not sure what this test entails, and lastly, the test of honor. This test is a complete mystery, since no-one has survived past the test of pain. The first test is nonlethal, and will pass you on to the next test after gauging your strength, regardless of how strong you are. In other words, whether or not you are worthy, you will go on to the test of pain. the first half of the test of pain is also nonlethal, so it is suggested that if you cannot sustain yourself, pull away while you still can.

"Now you are ready to draw the sword. Go to it, young saiyan."

Gohan kissed Videl, held her for a moment, and flew up to the platform, and prepared himself mentally for the task.

'Videl, if I don't pass the lethal part of the tests, know that I will always love you, and that I want you to go on with your life.'

By now, having seen what Gohan's life had been like, and knowing what lay ahead for the two of them, Videl knew she could not plead with gohan on this matter, so she took this mental message in silence. He grasped the swords handle, and immediately felt a powerful resistance to his own strength. He felt the message of the blade run through his hands, into his mind.

_The tests begin. You have yet to prove your worth to the sword of legacy. Now shall your worth be tested. Should you prove yourself, the sword will be yours to master. Fail, and perish. _

The blade emitted a huge wave of power that knocked even the kais off their feet. The only ones left standing were the saiyans. Gohan knew the time was now. He attempted to draw the sword. He felt a weight cover his entire body, threatening to crush the breath from him. He forced it back using his ki, and expanded his energy, bringing his power level up. The sword cried out in his mind

_The Test of Strength! _

He powered up to super saiyan, and the power of the sword brought him to his knees. He forced himself to stand, and realized that this was not as the supreme kai had said it would be. the sword was attempting to kill him from the start. it was draining his ki, and using it to make itself heavier. He knew then what it was the sword wanted him to do. The sword wanted him to perform divine alchemy. It wanted him to tap the unlimited power supply that lay beyond the veil that guarded the worlds of the living and dead from chaos. Gohan looked inward, to the hidden power within himself, that power created by the combination of saiyan and human bloodlines. He bypassed it, and went deeper into his own soul. He found the focus of both negative and positive flow energy. The essential "heart" of power. he went to the center of that power flow, and took the cords of power that ran from the heart, and twisted them together, until they combined, flowing in one direction. The two flows together tapped divine flow, and when gohan opened his eyes, he stood upright, a warm blue glow surrounding him. He was still a ss3, but one with unlimited energy. His power, however, was unchanged. The sword called out within him once more.

_The True Test of Strength – Completed._

Gohan looked down, and saw that the blade was a little farther out of the ground. Suddenly, he saw sparks fly from the blade, and run up his arms. The most intense, searing pain ran through him. So great was the pain, he was unsure as to how long he could stand it.

_The Test of Pain! _

The swords words echoed in his head. Fail, and perish. It wasn't just him that would perish if he failed. So many others would not be able to stand against the threat that was the reason he needed the sword. He steeled himself to the pain. he would die for those he cared for, and he would most certainly suffer the worst of pain for them. This would not beat him, no matter what. Just as he thought this, the pain subsided.

_The True Test of Pain – Completed._

The pain was gone, and gohan wasn't entirely sure why, but he had a hunch that the true test was to see beyond physical pain to the pain of loss that he knew so well. He had little time to think on this, however, since he knew that the worst test was not yet at hand. The sword spoke again, saying

_The Test of Knowledge!_

Gohan was suddenly hit by the images of his worst fears, and worst memories. And they hit hard. He watched as all of his friends perished at the hands of Vegeta and Nappa, as his father was killed in the fight with Raditz, as his father died once more in the fight with cell, and finally, he encountered the horrible dream of Videl's death. That, he had somewhat been expecting, and rather than let rage overcome him, he focused on finding the murderer. The silhouette took a somewhat more definitive shape. It was a tall woman, with a wicked, evil smile, and a remorseless hatred for all things alive. This time, and he knew when the time came, the only way for gohan to defeat such a being, would be for gohan to know and understand his opponent completely. In order to do that, gohan would have to know that nothing besides evil itself is all evil. That way, in some way, he could relate and come to better understand his opponent. The images subsided.

_The True Test of Knowledge – Completed._

Throughout the test, Videl could feel a little bit of everything gohan went through. She felt her own strength increase in tune with his, she knew the power of the veil that gohan breached, accessing the divine flow, and she felt some of the pain that he felt. Also, she felt his fear at the sight of reliving all his worst memories, and seeing his worst fears come to light, and she saw the shadowed dream of her own death, through his eyes, and she saw the sinister evil that would attempt to kill her. She knew, however, as well, Gohan's overwhelming need to protect her, and she knew she would not have to fear for herself. Gohan would die before he would let her go. That was what she was afraid of. He would rather die than see her get hurt, but seeing him die would kill her first.

When gohan stepped down from the pedestal, sword in hand, there was quite a lot of confusion. Videl had only sensed three tests, and then the sword was drawn, which was because, as far as gohan could tell, there only were three tests.

"what happened?" she asked, when he stepped down off of the cliff, since there was no longer any hyperbolic time destabilization, assumedly because it was caused by the sword itself.

"don't know. One minute, I was prepared for the final test, the next, the sword said the test was over, and let me draw it."

Kibito cut into the conversation

"well, I'm intrigued at that, amazed at your power increase, and astounded that you tapped the divine flow! How did you manage that feat?"

"it's hard to explain. I guess I just – what power increase?"

"Can't you feel it? The sword now contains a portion of your strength. In spite of that, your power has not decreased at all. This means that your power has increased, and the increase has gone to the swords reserve. When you completely master the sword, that extra power shall return to you, making you more powerful still."

Gohan nodded.

"how long was I in there?"

"the tests took a full two minutes in real time, so that would be twelve hours where you were."

"right, then. We've only got a limited amount of time to train ourselves to our maximum. We've got to push ourselves as hard as we can."

Gohan and Mirai drew their swords, and began fighting at their maximum speeds.

The next week before the world tournament arrived passed extremely quickly. Gohan and Mirai mastered their sword skills, and trunks tapped the divine flow as well, although it took him many tries. As a reward for training as hard as they did, the kais decided to give them the last night to themselves, and returned to the grand Kai's planet to inspect the goings on there. This gave gohan and Videl and Atla and Mirai the night alone, which was a much needed release for both of the couples. When the next day arrived, they set off for earth, fully prepared to take on the world tournament.


	14. Chapter 14

When the two saiyans, their mates, and the kais arrived on earth, everyone was astounded by their overall lack of power level. This, it was correctly assumed, was a result of the training with the kais. When they arrived, they also discovered that piccolo, or rather pikkolo had undergone an astounding change, and was also now lacking a power level. Satisfied that everyone had undergone enough change that their strength was nearly double what it was when last everyone was together. The trip to the site of the world tournament went off without a hitch. They decided, for the sake of not stirring up trouble, at least not until the tournament began, so flying there on ki power, or instant transmission were naturally out of the question.

Instead, the mode of transportation was a capsule corp Bulk Transport Vehicle, aptly named a BTV. The vehicle was able to transport all of them, including the spectator members of the group to the tournament site without much adieu, and it sped them there with enough time to spare before the tournament for seven hungry saiyans to catch a snack.

"hey! I remember you guys!" called a voice when they reached the buffet line.

The voice was followed by a short, blond, mustached announcer who had announced for the tournament since goku was a kid. The blond in his hair was mostly gray, and the hair was mostly bald spot, but it was him.

"you're goku, and majunior, although you look slightly different, somehow…"

pikkolo, who had been standing in the sunlight, so his face was silhouetted by the light, preventing an accurate view of it, stepped out of the sun, and pushed back his turban, revealing his third eye, making the announcer jump.

"Whoa! When did that happen!"

"few weeks ago, freak accident in driver's ed class."

"it's better if you don't mention it to him again. He gets a little uncomfortable around the topic." Chimed goku, who knew the story to be completely bogus.

"I always had a bit of a theory, by the way." Said the announcer in a quiet voice,

"it was you guys who took out cell, wasn't it? Hercule's too much of an egotistical blowhard and a coward to do that kind of work. I should know, I had to interview him after he won the last tournament."

"well, actually, it was my son, gohan, who beat cell."

Goku pointed behind his shoulder at gohan, who was talking with chiaotzu.

The announcer immediately rushed up, and shook chiaotzu's hand profusely.

"it's an honor to meet someone like you, I mean, to defeat cell, and single handedly! Although, I must say, you don't look a thing like your father, gohan."

Gohan intervened.

"well, I get most of my looks from my mother's side of the family, but I wouldn't trade my dad's fighting genes for all the zeni in the world."

The announcer stopped shaking the short fighters hand, apologized, and turned to gohan. With the new power gohan had obtained came a type of boundless confidence, and it showed. Even the announcer, who had been around fighters noble of spirit, arrogant, proud, and meek could not deny the power emanating from this boy who had apparently killed the evil known as cell.

Later, the older people watched as the younger boys played. The youngest of the children in the group was marron, 18 and krillin's child, and she chose to hop from adult to adult, knowing she was clearly a princess, and could not be denied entertainment from any adult, save vegeta. When Goten and trunks left the room to go explore, 16 got up and left as well. It was clear his intentions were to guard the boys from harm, and watch them so that they stayed out of trouble. Nonetheless, chi chi got up to follow him, but goku stopped her.

"16 may have a soul now, but it needs time to develop, and what better way to interact, than with children, especially for someone like 16, who defends and cherishes innocence and beauty?"

in an attempt to dissuade his mothers fears, gohan agreed with his father. He had a hunch that 16 would develop a connection with the boys that could only be beneficial to all three parties.

Outside, three seconds later

Sixteen sighed. He had silently watched the two younger boys for the last week now, as he had developed a kind of silent guardianship with them. He had known, in an analytical sort of way, that interacting, or even observing Goten and trunks would allow him to better develop a more human personality, but he never realized the connection he would obtain in watching over them. They were so young, and even in the harshness of reality that they and their families faced, they still did not lose that innocent happiness they had. He cherished that innocence. He knew, in the turmoil that his new soul was created lied that same naiveté, that created a camaraderie with the two children which he had never shared before. While he was lost in thought, he did not notice the boys coming up to him.

"16… hello, earth to 16."

The android with a soul shook himself from his thoughts.

"wanna play ball with us?"

he looked at them quizzically. "what is this, "ball?"

"it's a game. And you can be on Goten's team. We'll show you how to play."

The two boys flew around pointing at objects, and explaining the overly complex rules of the game they made up.

"and this is goal six. If you hit this post, you earn three points, but only if the opponent doesn't yell "goal six even-out!" Which means that goal six doesn't count for anything, but goal three on the opponents side is now worth four points instead of two."

As they got into the more complex rules, 16 had to summarize what the boys had said, so that the rules of the game fit more comfortably into his head. The time passed, and the game finally began. 16 scored the first goal of the game, eliciting a high-five response from Goten.

"high five? What is this high five?"

"like this, silly!"

Goten demonstrated, and sixteen smiled. He had once thought that it was not within him to smile, but all it took were these children to teach him to smile, to live.

Back with the adults

It was now time to sign up for the tournament. The tournament officials had booths set up for registration. Each official had a saiyan scouter device on their eye. When gohan asked bulma what the deal was, she said

"since we've got saiyans participating, I decided it would be a good idea to donate a "new invention" I had, to gauge people's strength. I figured that although some of you may have self control, I didn't think vegeta would lower his power level, even to keep his privacy. I knew they were coming out with a new device to limit the number of people enrolling in the tournament, so I figured I'd come up with something better, and include a hefty "donation" to the tournament funds to help my invention along."

"but how will normal people knowing our exact power levels help us pass as normal?"

"don't worry yourself, gohan. I set the scouters programming to round down anything over 500. that way, if a person has, for instance, a power level of 16,320, it reads as just 520. I've also adjusted the units of measurement so that a normal human would have a power level of around 90, and a fighter would have one of around 120. That way, since the power cut off is 500, it should make for some decent fights."

Gohan nodded, then realized the flaw in the plan.

"What about 16 and 18? They're androids, so they don't have power levels."

"That's why I've got this." Said bulma, pulling a small remote control out of her pocket.

"I see. So you can control the scouter with that."

He turned to videl.

"hey videl, I – "

he was cut off when she kissed him passionately.

'you don't guard your thoughts very well when your angry. You've been thinking of having pikkolo rig the matches so that you can fight my father in the first round. You've got my permission, provided you don't hurt anything besides his pride.'

He smiled and thanked her, with a telepathic promise of a better thank you later when they were alone. She blushed, and kissed him harder.

Naturally the first up to bat with the scouter was the champ himself – hercule, just back from visiting his gyms around the world, still having had no time to visit his daughter at home, having stayed at the most expensive hotel around instead for the last night, and not even bothering to leave a phone call to check up on videl. Of course, videl wasn't there, but they had stopped by her mansion to check the message machine, and nothing but solicitations from phone companies. This kind of thing made gohan's blood boil.

"now then, the decision of admittance into the tournament will be made by these strength testing devices called scouters. Anyone with a power level below 150 will not be permitted to participate, so better luck next time, weaklings."

The official laughed maniacally, and stopped so abruptly it made more people jump than when he had laughed maniacally in the first place.

"let the tournament registrations begin, starting with the champ himself, hercule!"

there was a cheer from the audience, not participated in by any of the z-senshi, including videl, which surprised gohan a little bit.

The scouter scanned, and the number that showed up on a large screen above the registration stands was 240.

'so,' thought gohan, 'he's only a weakling by our standards. By human standards he's just mediocre.'

"I hope some of you weaker excuses for warriors can come close to what I've got in strength, or this is gonna be quite a boring tournament! Haha haha!"

gohan was far too tired after years of dealing with talk of "the great hercule", and "hercule, the slayer of cell." He was going to show hercule who he was, and scare the wits from him. As hercule looked on in distain at this boy who videl seemed to like in spite of his "no dating unless your boyfriend's stronger than me" rule. The scouter scanned, and gohan's power level showed up. He had raised it to the most impressive amount the scouter could read. 599. hercule was bewildered still more than his last encounter with the boy, he then looked around at the boy's companions. They were exactly the same group that had fought cell. None of them were blond this time, but the faces matched. As the officials checked and double checked their findings on the other scouters, and found the results the same. They checked other fighters, and realized that that must be the boys strength, and not a mechanical malfunction.

Then came the rest of the z-senshi, and for the first three of them, the same series of events occurred, before the officials finally decided that the scouters must be functional, and that these people must be really strong. When they consulted their leading financier, namely hercule, out of fear of the looks he was getting from vegeta and pikkolo, he simply said that they must have gotten stronger over the last few years, and it'll just be decided in the ring. As if hercule was already frightened from seeing the gold fighters again, it frightened him still more when he noticed the tall red haired man in the green outfit. A flashback to the moment when he had actually participated in saving the world came to mind.

He had thrown the head of that man, or robot, or whatever he was, that gave the kid, gohan the power to fight and destroy cell, (that killed the rat that ate the malt that lived in the house that jack built). Though the man had grown a ponytail, and the only two times hercule had seen him were as he latched onto cell and claimed he would "self destruct," and when his head fell near Hercule's hiding place, it was undeniably him.

"uuh, if you'll excuse me, I've got some important champion type business to work on, so, um… see ya at the tournament, everybody, or at least those of you who make it!"

the "champ" did a nervous laugh, and exited, stage anywhere he could find, as long as it went to someplace else.

When the z-senshi entered the tournament grounds, it was to thunderous applause.

"Looks like at least some people still remember what we did for them, back in the day."

Said krillin, and goku nodded his agreement. Krillin's inference couldn't have been more correct. It had been years since the group had been seen at the tournament, and quite a few of those who were old enough to have seen the fights with king piccolo, majunior, and tien were now too old to come to the tournaments any more, or they had lost faith in the idea of goku and his friends ever coming back. There were, of course, the close personal friends in the audience; master roshi, launch, puar, oolong, korin and yajirobe, who for once had come down from korin's tower to watch the tournament, since they had been sensing the z-senshi training for several months now, and were eager to see them in action. Even launch, who had left for faraway places (and likely, some fun with an Uzi) several years ago, was in the audience, blue haired and kind eyed, at least until the next sneeze. Dende was watching from kami's lookout, atla, preferring not to fight despite her relative skill, and the kais, in casual human attire, were also in one of the front rows.

Finally, the announcer stepped out, and looked out over the crowd.

"good day everybody, and isn't it a great day for the 26th tenkachi budokai!"

there was wild cheering.

"yes, it's a great day for the tournament, and let me introduce our twenty contestants. Of course, we have our beloved hercule!"

cheers and applause.

"paired with him in the first match will be… son gohan!"

a few cheers from the crowd, and a look passed between gohan and pikkolo, who was the one who telepathically arranged all the matches so that everyone got to fight who they wanted to before the finals. pikkolo also set it up so that in all likelihood, gohan and mirai would face each other in the finals.

"next up…"

the announcer looked a little closer at the clipboard that held the names of the contestants.

"apparently one of two contestants with a number for a name – 16, versus Launch!" the z senshi looked around in confusion, with the exception of Pikkolo, who had arranged the matches, and did not find the bit of info where there were two launches relevant to tell the others. Yes, launch was still in the stands, but the blond launch (sans guns for once) stood on the far left side of the arena. She walked up, and said four words, which seemed good enough for everyone.

"long story. Explanation later."

"then it's majunior, who contended with goku for the championship back in budokai number 23, back for another tournament, versus bob… I guess."

The I guess came from the fact that bob was a nearly featureless bald humanoid with a goofy smile, and a shirt that had an equally goofy smiley face on it. If there was ever someone who looked less a fighter, he wasn't here, so bob took that title.

"in the fight after that, it's hercule's own little girl who packs a huge punch, satan videl"

cheers again.

"versus an old favorite, who took a nasty spill against hercule in the semi final round in the last budokai, but is back for another beating – er, I mean, try at the championship, Spopovitch!"

a whole bunch of booing was the only response.

"after that, it's a former champion, and a new comer! Son goku, winner of the 22nd and 23rd tenkachi budokai, versus Upa!"

the two fighters bowed, turned to each other, and shook hands.

"it's good to see you, upa. I sense you've gotten much stronger over the years."

"actually, I've climbed korin's tower, and learned from master korin, so you could say I've become much stronger, but it looks like you have too, goku."

They returned to their places in line, and the announcer continued.

"Then it's a couple of newcomers, Vegeta, versus 18!"

cheering from a few, and a silly face from Goten at Vegeta.

"After that, its world famous baseball player and martial artist yamcha, against his long time rival, tien shinhan, followed by a match between Krillin and Chiaotzu. All four being veterans of this arena, and one of them another former champion! And, in the last two matches of the day, the gypsy altian, and kurt, the mild mannered tourist, and Mirai Briefs versus Yamu, younger brother of spopovitch.

"Alright everybody, lets get started!"

everyone besides pikkolo, gohan, and hercule filed out of the ring. Pikkolo stayed to exchange a quick word with gohan.

"keep a close eye on spopovitch and videl. I was trying to pair spopovitch with his brother, but someone else was pulling the strings on that match – someone infinitely stronger psychically than I, so just be wary. I don't sense much strength from either brother, but there could be some other advantage they're holding in secret. Other than that, good luck, not that you'll need it against this fool."

Gohan nodded, pikkolo stepped out of the ring, and the fight began.

Despite his fear that the boy might have been the one who actually did kill cell, and the knowledge that this fear was quite rational, hercule let his bravado take over, and allowed him to reassure himself of his false greatness.

"alright, shrimp! You think you can date my daughter, humiliate me, and then have the nerve to think you can beat me in this tournament? Well you've got another thing comin' kid! Now prepare to – "

in the blink of an eye, gohan went from several feet away to two inches from hercule's face.

"haven't you ever wondered, hercule, about who really killed cell?"

the "champ" stumbled back, his bravado replaced once more by fear.

"uuh…"

"let me answer that for you." Gohan let out a cry, and powered up to super saiyan.

"remember me, hercule? The boy with the gold hair who fought cell, while you cowered in a corner?"

he powered up again, to ss2.

"the boy who watched a noble spirit be crushed in order for him to obtain the strength he needed to defeat cell. The strength you claimed for yourself after that boy had watched his father die in vain, who, when that boy went to take your daughter to a dance seven years later, having fallen madly in love with her, you called him a weakling fool, just like his weakling fool dead father. Well guess what? Goku's back from the dead, and I'm even less of a weakling than I've ever been."

Gohan walked closer to hercule, and of course nobody heard this exchange, since the crowd was a combination of roaring and extremely loud silence – nobody had ever seen the champ wet his pants in fear (figuratively, of course) before, and almost everybody knew the gold fighters from the cell games, and this was the first time they had appeared since then. Gohan brought a hand up to hercule's shoulder, and extended a finger with enough force to push him out of the ring. Gohan stepped over to a dazed hercule, more dazed from being defeated than injured, and said

"I guess I'm strong enough to date your daughter now, huh?"

the former champ just sat there, having lost his title, his dignity, and his daughter all at once, and to the same boy.

When gohan stepped out of the ring, videl ran up, kissed him, and punched him in the arm as hard as she could.

"ow! What was that for?"

"I told you, you had my permission to hurt his pride, but I didn't say there wouldn't be a consequence."

He smiled and they kissed again.

"well, I certainly am surprised." Said the announcer,

"The champ ringed out in three minutes in the opening match of the tournament. This, ladies and gentleman, is an interesting turn of events. This means hercule forfeits the championship completely, and the winner of the tournament gets the championship title without ever having to face the former champ, unless that winner is gohan here!"

The entire crowd cheered for gohan now, and he blushed, never one to be anything but modest. Then followed the match with 16 against launch, and, although launch had clearly become much stronger, there was no competition. It was a ring-out in two minutes. Pikkolo fought bob, with quite a surprising ending. Bob stuck his thumb into his mouth, and inflated himself to the size of a hot-air balloon, and floated out of the ring.

Finally, the most important match after the champ's – the champ's daughter's fight. Videl didn't hesitate. As soon as the bell for her to begin rang, she went at it, with gohan and pikkolo watching like hawks, videl delivered a swift kick to spopovitch's head. His head turned, and he looked back at her with a wicked grin on his face, and videl noticed something on that ugly mug that she hadn't seen before. There was a large, archaic M on his forehead. He grabbed her leg, and threw her to the ground. Gohan sensed his power level. Not only had he been concealing a power stronger than krillin, but he had just received a power up that put him beyond piccolo's strength, post merging with kami. The hulking monster bared down on videl, and landed an overhand swing to her stomach, knocking the wind, and quite possibly the appendix from her.

'videl, stay down. You can sense his strength just as well as I can. He's too strong.' Gohan said to videl telepathically.

'not quite. I had an hour to train when we returned to earth, and I used it in the hyperbolic time chamber. I've got a bit of a power increase now.'

Videl grabbed the bald giant's foot, twisted it around, and tossed him away.

"kamehameha!"

the blast flew from her hands, and took the huge man off guard. He was knocked from his feet, and almost sent out of the ring, except for the fact that he could fly. He hovered several inches from the ground, and sped forward, greeting videl with a fist to the face. She was knocked sprawling in the center of the ring, her hands above her head. This was a deliberate motion, and when spopovitch walked up, she performed a masenko. He, unfortunately, was faster than it, caught the blast in one huge hand, and forced it back. The explosion was blinding, and when everyone opened their eyes, videl was unconscious. It was then that spopovitch seemed to lose track of what it was he was supposed to do. He then seemed to have a sudden revelation, and began stepping on videl's chest. Gohan ran up to the announcer, and grabbed him by the collar.

"he's going to kill her! Stop him!"

"my god, you're right! Spopovitch, you are disqualified for attempting to use lethal force on an opponent – therefore, videl is the victor!"

"good enough for me."

Gohan said, his rage mounting, as lightning crackled around his form.

'hang on videl, I'm coming.'

He instant transmissioned to spopovitch, and faster than any eye could see, threw him clean out of the stadium, and into the parking lot. He grabbed videl, and sped her to the infirmary. She woke up in his arms.

"g-gohan…" her voice was weak.

She was near being killed when gohan managed to stop spopovitch, and wasn't much better off now.

"don't speak – it's a waste of energy. Dende's on his way with a senzu bean and his healing power. Just stay with me, okay?"

videl simply nodded, and passed out. Dende was there at a rate that was fast even for him. She was healed and went out with gohan to watch the remaining fights.

The following match had already begun. It was between goku and upa. Goku allowed upa to demonstrate his strength, before sending him out of the ring in a flurry of fists. It was a good fight, and the crowd loved being able to see the action for once. The next match was between vegeta and 18.

"so, old man, back for another beating?" said 18, as they stepped into the ring.

Despite the years of acquaintance, if not quite friendship between Vegeta and Krillin's now wife, the agony of defeat at her hands before fighting cell still hung heavily on his mind.

"you have it backwards, woman. Today, you fall."

A terrific fight ensued, which none but the z-senshi could see, which meant a great amount of disappointment for the crowd. In the end, a brilliant flash occurred above their heads, and the z warriors caught a glimpse of a brilliant super saiyan 3 Vegeta landing a kick to 18's torso, and she flew out of the ring, managing to slow herself down enough that her impact crater didn't destroy a part of the stands or the ring.

The next fight was tien against yamcha – a real clincher of a fight that had been waiting to happen since they last fought in a budokai. The fight, this time, was far longer, each fighter using their trademark techniques, and every trick they had in the book, in order to beat each other. Tien separated into several afterimages at once, leaving yamcha to decide which was the real one. Yamcha, instead, backflipped onto his hands, and spun around on two fingers, firing a ki blast at each illusion. Unfortunately, they were all illusions, and tien was hovering above him preparing the most powerful tribeam he could create. It came down, at that point, to the two having a contest of wills, both used new attacks never seen before. tien used the reverse tribeam, forming an upside down triangle with his hands, and yamcha used a dual kamehameha, each hand forming an individual blast, then spiraling the two blasts around each other by crossing the arms at the release point. When the smoke cleared, the two were standing, but barely, in the middle of the ring.

"an impressive attack. I've never seen anything like it." said Tien, panting

"took me a week to perfect it, and since we were the last ones to go into the time chamber, when you went out, I stayed in for a half an hour extra to perfect it. Too bad it didn't work."

"don't sell yourself short. It would've worked if I hadn't been charging up a reverse tribeam for a few extra seconds. You did good, yamcha. As far as I'm concerned, you had me beat."

"That's good to know, tien… good… to…"

yamcha passed out on the floor, a goofy smile of victory on his face.

Following that fight came another rivalry settling match – Krillin versus Chiaotzu. The two faced off with their most powerful – albeit nonlethal attacks, since both fighters were known for rather destructive attacks. In the end, it came down to whose Kamehameha was stronger. In the end, both fighters were near passing out with the loss of energy, but Krillin stood for the longest, making him the winner. Altian defeated kurt in the next match, an easy win for the gypsy, although kurt didn't seem to be putting up much of a fight. The advantage was clear. Altian used a deck of tarot cards as a catalyst for his ki, and each attack was as spontaneous and different as the draw of a card, so kurt, who simply fought with his fists, couldn't predict his moves.

After that match, gohan went up and congratulated altian on his victory, but he was really there to speak with kurt.

"so, dende, how's it going?" the short young man jumped.

"oh, hi gohan! How did you recognize me?"

"the first clue is that, although you don't fight often, you were trained at least a little bit by pikkolo when he was still piccolo, and I recognize his style, the second clue being your promptness in coming to heal Videl, but really the clincher giveaway was the fact that you look pretty much the same, but without antenna or green skin."

Dende laughed, and nodded.

"I guess I cant fool you, gohan."

"or me. What are you doing here, kid? You should be watching over the earth." Said pikkolo, who had just appeared behind dende, who was still disguised as kurt.

" well, I would be, but I got a chance to see altian's tarot deck when I saw him fly here, and he's got a card of the moon in that deck, and I figured it would be bad, if he used that with saiyans in the audience. Also, I sensed something dangerous about those two big guys, spopovitch and yamu. I had a bad feeling, so I figured I'd just come to check up on you guys."

"well, something is afoot with those two, which we'll explain, and thanks for the warning about the moon card. Come on, the next match is starting." Said gohan, as they went to watch the final match – Mirai versus yamu.

'I sincerely hope Mirai smashes the bastard's face in.'

'agreed' came Videl's voice across the mental link.


	15. Chapter 15

Hello readers! For those of you who think you've read chapter 14 already (having read it prior to Halloween night, 2005), I beg of you, reread it! I have completely rewritten the first rounds of the tournament, so that the next few aren't as complicated. As an added bonus, if you don't reread chapter 14, you'll be confused about certain things later on in the story, such as why bardock was completely absent from the tournament. Thanks in advance,

RonninBlade

Mirai made short work of yamu, a little too short for gohan, who was looking to see lifesblood drawn ('so this is what happens to my self control when someone hurts my mate. Good to know.' Were his exact thoughts) and the first day of the tournament was over. The tired fighters of the z-senshi decided against using the fighter's hotel, and instant transmissioned their way to Kami's lookout. There, some of them had a more _restful_ night than others. The following morning gohan awoke with videl beside him, the sunlight shimmering through her hair, and truly believed he had arrived in heaven prematurely. They went out and met mirai and atla, and flew down to the buffet where they had found the seven star ball, and had a huge breakfast. The manager was beyond distraught, since they cleaned out the restaurant completely, and were still hungry, but, due to an odd transdimensionsal anomaly, mirai's credit cards worked in this time-space dimension, and didn't actually bill to anyone, since there was no-one to bill in this world. The manager went from distraught to elated when he saw that mirai had picked up the tab times two, so the seven star buffet now had made enough money in one day for three weeks worth of sales. Following their breakfast, the four flew back to kami's lookout for a meeting with the kais.

"it appears that babidi has sent spies into our world. The ones called spopovitch and yamu were scouts, meant to test your power levels. Each one easily had the strength of a super saiyan, and considering that they failed to defeat the one known as hercule the last time they came to this tournament, it is saying something." Said the supreme kai.

"we're running out of time."

"we are well aware of our time situation, mirai. It is of little concern. What's done is done. We must only move on from here. The fact that babidi is still biding his time is a good thing. Were it not for that, majin buu would probably be revived by now, and we would be doomed. The best thing we can do now is continue on with the tournament, and not worry quite yet about what is to come."

The fights of the following round began in an hour, and the four decided to spend that time training in the hyperbolic time chamber. They divided their fifteen hour stay into training, eating, and sleep. For four teenage lovers, of the latter there was little. When they went back to the tournament, they had a little under a minute to spare before the first fight. This was fortunate, because it was gohan fighting again. This was certain to be a good fight – 16 would be his opponent. They stepped into the ring, exchanged there respective greetings.

"your strength is clear, gohan. Yet still do I wish to test my own. My body is now far more organic than it once was. I feel emotions different than I have ever before, and my power is greater. In HFIL, I was given form, but nothing so complete as what I have now. I wish to test my new power."

"Very well. I can promise you a good fight. Lets go!"

they leapt back, and powered up, gohan going just a little bit slower than 16, allowing himself to gauge the right amount of strength to use. In the end, it required a minimum ss3 level to counter 16's strength. Gohan attacked first, an overhand swing. 16 blocked it, but barely. Gohan fought on at an equal level for a full twenty minutes, before 16 said

"it is clear who the victor is here, and now that I know the truth of my own strength, I will concede your victory."

16 charged at gohan, and was knocked back, and out of the ring. the next fight was pikkolo versus videl. The two competitors stepped into the ring.

'hmm… the kid's got potential. Gohan definitely picked a good one. And the look of determination in her eyes is a clear sign. Seems like these two were made for each other.' Videl bowed, and said something that surprised pikkolo to no end.

"master pikkolo, I love gohan, and, although I've had the chance to receive blessing from both his parents, I feel that you are among them as one of the most important people in gohan's life, and, I believe from what I have learned of you, that you will not give your blessing to an unworthy candidate. Therefore, I wish to prove myself to you in the combat arena."

'I can already tell gohan picked the right one, but that this one would attempt to prove her worth, it only proves it further.'

Pikkolo nodded.

"alright kid. You want a fight, don't expect less than my best effort."

Videl smiled a smile that could only come from being around gohan for too long, and took up a fighting stance. Pikkolo commenced the dance immediately. She blocked his first swing, dodged forward, and after-imaged to his left.

'she's fast, alright.'

Pikkolo dodged a kick to his head, and flew into the air. Videl followed with all speed, and the fight continued in mid-air. At this point, pikkolo was only using the strength he had formerly had as piccolo, and still, videl was able to keep up. Pikkolo gradually increased his power level as the fight progressed, and videl began tapping into the divine flow energy. In addition, and to the surprise of an astounded pikkolo, her power level kept rising. Off to the sidelines, gohan realized that videl was finally tapping into the hidden power he had first felt in her. the interesting thing was that her power level was increasing at a faster rate than pikkolo's.

she reached her power's cap just around ss2, an outstanding achievement by the standards of any human. Pikkolo was by that time having difficulty keeping up. When she reached her maximum, she let up, smiled, and said

"that's all I've got. I hope it's enough."

For an instant, pikkolo was back with gohan, training him at the age of five.

'_that's all I've got, mr. piccolo! I'm not strong enough_!' at the time, piccolo had dealt gohan a crushing blow to the head.

'_that's not all you've got! There's always more!_'

he dealt a similar blow now, and videl reeled.

"you don't tell me when your done, kid! I tell you!"

videl turned to him, with a smile

"right."

She charged forward, and attacked. she spun on her heel, and landed an upper roundhouse to his shoulder. The speed with which she attacked was unexpected, and pikkolo was knocked back. She fired a kamehameha, and it made contact with pikkolo's chest. When the smoke cleared, she could not see pikkolo. Then, she heard his voice speak in her mind.

'sorry kid. You got the potential, and you have my blessing, but I have to face gohan in the next round, and besides, if I don't, it would be a rather stilted fight, since he wouldn't be able to bring himself to harm you. This is where the fight ends.'

Videl nodded, bowed her head in respect, and barely got the opportunity to turn her head before pikkolo knocked her out of the ring. she went, smiling all the way, knowing she now had the complete blessing of gohan's family.

Gohan went to her, and helped her up.

"next fight, goku, versus vegeta!" called the announcer.

Vegeta, looking particularly confident, and goku, looking no less confident than his opponent, stepped into the ring.

"so, kakarot. This is it. We settle it here."

Goku only nodded. They powered up immediately to their maximums, and began the fight. The action was too fast for anyone, with the exception of the z-senshi to see. The most they saw were blinding flashes of light that went off every few seconds. Gohan chose not to let his eyes deceive him, and followed the battle with his ki sense. Goku and vegeta were near equals in power. vegeta, however, seemed to have the upper hand. Goku only blocked four out of five attacks. Finally, there was a crash, and goku was sent to the floor of the ring. when the smoke cleared, and the announcer climbed out of the pile of rubble he ended up in, he said

"well, folks, this is the second time in the history of this tournament that this has occurred. The arena boundaries no longer apply, because there is no longer an arena! According to regulations, this means that the only rule left to apply is that the last fighter standing wins this match. I–"

he was interrupted when a brilliant streak flew from the rubble, and attacked vegeta faster than anyone with the exception of gohan and mirai could see. Apparently, goku had achieved a higher level of ss3, and had been holding back. He struck vegeta once, twice, three times, a hundred times. The fight went on for another full minute, before the two fighters flew to either side of the arena.

"a duel then, is it kakarot?"

"you heard the man. Last man standing. That means we settle this now. KaaaMeee…"

the two charged up there most powerful attacks. the super kamehameha, and the big bang cannon. They let the two attacks fly, and within an instant, the battle was decided. The super kamehameha wave pierced clear through the other attack, and vegeta was down.

"cant move… damn you… kakarot…"

and vegeta was out like a light.

In the next match, krillin faced tien, in a fight that was by far more entertaining for the crowd than any of the others. It was a perfect combination of what hercule might have called "flashy lights and tricks" and timing – the fighters were for the most part too fast to see in more than a blur, but at least the crowd could see them. Meanwhile, gohan was worried. He had heard through there link videl's conversation with pikkolo, and realized that, out of respect, she had gotten the blessing of all of his family members, but he had done nothing but patronize hercule. He decided to seek out the "champ" and ask his blessing on their relationship. What he was afraid of was that he was sure he already knew hercule's response. Nonetheless, he went looking. Eventually, he found hercule, holed up in one of the upstairs meeting rooms of the budokai's organization committee. He as curled up in the fetal position, and was sucking his thumb. When gohan entered, his first expression was one of fear, but that faded into hatred in moments. He stood up, fire in his eyes, and said

"well, what do ye want now? You've taken my pride, my daughter, and practically my life! What now!"

he leapt on gohan and started pummeling him. Gohan held his ground, stopped hercule's fists, and fixed him with a look of mingled compassion and determination.

"I love videl." He said, simply.

"I will marry her, one day, if she wishes it, and I will treat her with the utmost respect and caring. You know as well as I do from fighting cell that in my line of work, I can't always promise to keep her out of harms way. Believe me, I would if I could, but I don't think she'd like it much if I had her stay out of harms way every time. She's definitely a fighter, and that's part of why I'm so in love with her. I came here asking your blessing for our relationship. I can no more promise that I will leave her for lack of your blessing than I can promise to keep her out of danger, but I can promise to do my best to love and care for her as long as we live."

Hercule's eyes softened, his rage abating. He had lived a long enough life, and had known many men. In his time, he had only seen three men with this kind of integrity – two only in passing; this one's father, and the one called 16, and the third, this boy. This innocent, naïve boy. Hercule watched as this kid had killed cell. He saw the kid's sacrifice, his father's death, and the death of the orange haired man. No wonder this kid was so strong – so truly strong. He was pure of heart, and he would never lie to videl, or hurt her in any way. Of this hercule was sure. And, without all of the money, all the fame hercule possessed, this boy could give his daughter something he never could. True happiness. He nodded slowly, and closed his eyes, as if in pain.

"you've got my blessing, boy. But hurt her, and I don't care how strong you are – your dead. Break her heart, and you'll find yourself wishing you were."

Hercule, having regained a small part of his dignity, rose, and walked past gohan. Gohan turned.

"you know, you may not have beaten cell, but you've given people someone to see as a hero, and for that, you're the champ in my eyes. Who knows? You may just end up saving the world for real one day."

He smiled, and left the room. At that moment, hercule gained a small amount of a quality no man on earth would have thought he had in him – humility, for before the boy who loved his daughter, he was humbled.

Tien won the match against krillin, and the three most important rounds of the tournament began – the quarter, semi and final rounds. In the first match of the quarter finals, gohan faced his master, pikkolo.

"alright kid. Show me what you've got, and don't hold back for anything."

Gohan powered up, this time nearly to full – 1/3 maximum ss3 power. The ground shook with the tremendous power flowing through him. When he finished powering up, the new ring, which had been provided by capsule corp, was destroyed all over again. Gohan attacked with speeds unseen by any but mirai, and the fight commenced. Pikkolo caught the first blow, powering up himself. His power level was greater than 16's, and certainly made it to a ss3 comparison. They fought on for what seemed to the two of them to be hours, but lasted only a few minutes, exchanging blows that could have easily destroyed the earth in one shattering hit. Gohan was astounded that pikkolo could keep up with his power. Also, his style had changed, with the assimilation of pikkon's style, and his moves were so fluid, they were hard to read, even for gohan. Gohan fired numerous kamehamehas, but the time consumed in saying the words were more than enough for pikkolo to move out of the way, even with the help of the instant transmission kamehameha, which would have been easy to use, if gohan could detect pikkolo's energy signal over that of his own. Normally, it wouldn't have been a problem, but pikkolo had learned to mask his power level into that of his opponents, and, when used in combinations with the afterimage technique made it hard to find him. He appeared behind gohan at one point, smirking.

"if this is all you've got, we're all in real trouble."

He attempted to land a shot to gohan's head, but gohan moved out of the way the instant the blow was swung.

"okay. You want full power, you've got it!"

gohan powered up, and needed only one hit to defeat pikkolo. Pikkolo skidded to a stop near the wall, and passed out. His last conscious sentence of the match was

"guess I was right all along, goku… he's surpassed us both… beyond any expectations…"

Goku was now fighting against tien. It was a rematch from days long past, from when goku was a kid. The winner was clear, and tien was out of the ring in the blink of an eye, and then it was on to the semi finals. In the first of the two matches that would take place, gohan faced his father. This would be a match to remember.

"alright gohan. Let's see it. Show me what you've learned. Show me the student who has surpassed all masters."

Gohan nodded, and tapped into his true power. He charged up to the level at which he had fought pikkolo, but this time, he fully used his control of divine flow. Blue energy rippled around him, and his eyes glowed azure. He smiled, and waited for goku to power up. Goku powered up to full, and gohan found he would have to increase his power further to keep up. He used ½ full ss3 power before his level surpassed his father's. Both of them knowing that if they fought here, the entire island would be destroyed, they flew up several hundred feet before commencing battle. It was a match of pure skill on skill. They used every technique they knew, every style they had acquired. From below, only vegeta and mirai, could see them moving at the intense speeds they were traveling. Most of the people saw only lights flashing and loud sounds cracking – akin to a fireworks display. Little they knew of the fight that was the worlds smallest and deadliest battle being waged above their heads. Finally, the two specks above stopped moving, and spread apart approximately fifty feet.

"well, gohan," goku was fatigued and panting from the energy he had expended.

"looks like its down to this." Gohan, also tired, nodded.

"a battle of kamehamehas. The winner is the strongest."

They both knew the fight was already over. Gohan may have been physically fatigued, but his ki supply was limitless. With the power of divine energy, and the bonus of a higher power level, gohan would be the winner.

"KAAAAMEEEE…" they began charging their attacks.

"HAAAAMEEEE…" their hands extended out before them, perfect synchronicity.

"HAAA!" the blasts flew from their hands. Gohan's a light blue, wreathed in electricity, goku's a brilliant gold. The kamehameha battle went on for minutes. Goku would not give in. gohan continued to press the attack, forcing goku's kamehameha back with his own. Lightning crackled, and people were forced back in their seats by the sheer power of the energies. Gohan made the final push, and goku's blast was extinguished. Gohan called back the energies, so they wouldn't obliterate his father, and went to catch the unconscious and falling goku.

When goku was revived, they went to see the next match. This match was the last one before the finals. It was mirai against altian, the gypsy. Mirai was a little annoyed about only getting to fight two opponents, when everybody else got four, and decided to do one punch worth's taking it out on this weirdo. Nonetheless, he allowed his opponent the first move. Unfortunately, that move was a rather unlucky draw of the cards. It was the card of the moon.

'mirai… for the sake of all things alive, remember your training!'

thought gohan, who saw it as well.

Mirai knew his training from the kais well enough, the real worry was the saiyans in the audience who weren't trained by the kais. Goku also saw the card, and began having slight problems. He spasmed, and tumbled out of the stands. There, on the floor by the arena, unseen by all who had their minds set on the fight, he transformed, into the giant war ape – the oozaru. As his gigantic form rose above the arena, everyone noticed him. A towering ape-human figure (bulma had had a good idea several years prior – superstretch elastic waistbands, so that when the saiyans reverted back to human form, they'd at least have pants to wear) They noticed even more, as he turned, swinging his fist around to meet with the stands. The giant fist was caught by vegeta.

"dammit kakarot… why are you so damn STRONG!"

he pushed the saiyan ape that was goku back. The oozaru stumbled, and nearly squashed the gypsy altian, if it weren't for mirai saving his skin at the last second.

"would you put that card away!" he said.

Altian fumbled with his deck, and it fell into the wind.

"oh, for kami's sake!"

he accessed the negative energy flow, and incinerated the cards. The oozaru goku got up, and fought vegeta. Vegeta faked out of the way, and kicked the giant ape into the air. He afterimaged to the side, and punched him out of the arena, and away from the innocent people. Gohan figured that it might be best to end this quickly, but he was also aware that although the strength of a saiyan is only minimally increased by a tail, that increase is increased with each super saiyan level, and becomes quite important in the final rounds of a fight to have that extra boost of strength. It would become thus important in fighting majin buu. Therefore, he realized it would be detrimental to all of them, should goku lose his tail. Gohan flew up after vegeta. Vegeta was having a rather difficult time dealing with war ape goku. It seemed that, even without the use of a civilized mind, goku retained his fighting prowess, and still managed to evade every action on vegeta's part. The atomic breath blasts didn't help either. In the end, he ended up going ss3, and going after goku's tail. Gohan stopped him, and said

"go watch your son fight. I've got my dad."

Vegeta didn't protest. He was a bit fatigued from fighting goku earlier, and wanted no more of losing for the moment. Back in the ring, mirai was asking altian why he was cowering in a corner.

"aren't you gonna fight?"

"I w-would, b-but you destroyed my cards."

Mirai sighed, and used the power of divine flow to restore the cards to existence. He

handed the deck to the gypsy, and prepared himself for a fight. The gypsy, on the other hand, turned and ran, leaving the ring and disqualifying himself. Mirai sighed. At least the next fight with gohan might be interesting.

Meanwhile, gohan was being pummeled by goku. He needed to find a way to return goku to human form, without cutting off his tail. The fight went on, and finally gohan had an idea. He tapped into the negative flow, and began slowly sapping the ki energy that goku was exerting, each time going closer to its source. When he reached the source, knowing better than to cut it off altogether, which would kill goku, he narrowed the access channel to the energy, causing goku to revert back to human form. Goku passed out, and gohan flew them back to the arena. Finally, it came time for the final round. As they had planned, it was gohan against mirai. When they stepped into the ring, the competitive enthusiasm alone could destroy a small planet.

"it all comes down to this, huh gohan?"

gohan nodded. When he was in a fighting mood, he spoke little, and let his fists do the talking. They powered up, and, in special preparation, the kais had modified the air around the arena, so that it formed a barrier against the powerful and dangerous energies that would permeate into the crowd even from five hundred feet above their heads. As the two greatest ss3 powers ever to exist clashed, even through the barrier, the crowds felt an intense pulse that resonated deep within their bones. All vision was blinded by the colossal energy wave that came from their first attacks. the sounds that came from within the blinding light could not be paralleled by the most violent of battles. A storm of released energy gathered at the top of the barrier, and rained down lightning on the two competitors. The fight came to several standstills, as a battle of wills and physical strength ensued, each trying to break the other's grip. Eventually, such wrestling bouts ended, and a fight of ki technique began. The battle raged on. Although neither fighter was interested in the title of champ, the fact that both competitors were saiyans made the idea of being the superior warrior enticing. Finally, all other measures expended, proving as of yet that both fighters were equal, it came down to a battle of final skill. Gohan charged his most powerful kamehameha, and Mirai his burning attack. The impact destroyed the arena 1500 feet below, and blinded even the z-senshi. When the smoke cleared, there stood not two figures in the arena, but six. The other four being frieza, king piccolo, raditz, and cell. Frieza and king piccolo restraining Mirai, as cell was gohan. As the z-senshi leapt into action, cell whispered into gohan's ear.

"hello, gohan. Ready to watch your world burn?"


	16. a cry for help from the author

I am currently working on the next chapter of DBZ: the legacy saga, as well as brainstorming it's sequel (I tend to brainstorm very early). I need a very pretty, but short female Japanese name. it wont appear until the legacy saga's sequel, but I guarantee its appearance. I need it to replace gohan's daughter's name, because pan just doesn't sound cool enough. If anyone has any ideas, send me a review of this "chapter", or email me. it doesnt have to be japanese, it just has to not be outdone by the name kohei, which can mean justice, and is one of the other main character's names in the sequel. Thanks,

RonninBlade


	17. Chapter 16

At seeing the two warriors trapped at the hands of their most deadly (not to mention deceased) enemies, the rest of the z-senshi leapt into action. Goku and vegeta powered up, and flew towards the scene, before they were stopped by the kais.

"goku, vegeta, hold! I beg you, do not cross the barrier!"

they stopped, if only for a second, and, as they did, raditz stepped between mirai and gohan, and placed a small crystal orb on the ground between them. He got out of the way fast, and the orb started to glow. The two super saiyans in the center ring began to struggle and cry out. "if you had crossed the barrier to get to them, that orb would have sapped your strength as well, and we'd have no-one strong enough to get them out of there. Now do you understand?" goku nodded reluctantly. The orb continued to grow brighter, as the struggles of the two grew weaker and weaker, until the orb shone like the sun, and the saiyans fought no more. cell, frieza, and king piccolo released the boys, who toppled to the ground. Raditz picked up the orb, and seemed to hear a voice that wasn't there.

Pikkolo came up, the potara earrings in hand.

"would now be a good time to test the super fusion?"

goku nodded. What better time would there be? they called goten and trunks over, and performed the fusion dance, as a smugly grinning cell stepped forward. As the evils of their past stepped down from the ring, they put on the earrings, and superfuzed. The lesser z-senshi knew better than to interfere in this kind of fight. they were too weak, and would only serve as a detriment, even with the fusion Gogetunks powered up, and stood before cell.

"sorry, buddy, but I cant let you pass."

Cell cocked his head to the side. He was now close enough for all of them to see the M – the same M that spopovitch had had on his forehead.

"really. And what power do you have that can stop me?"

the superfuzed warrior drew his weapon – a bizarre looking sword with the crossguard of goten's gladius, a long red handle akin to the power pole, and a jagged scimitar like blade similar to both vegeta's sword, but slightly straighter, like trunks' sword.

"this says you cant pass."

He swung the peculiar sword forward, and it made contact, with cell's hand, with which he caught it. The blade suddenly extended forward with intense force, and pierced through cell's eye. Cell stumbled back, as the kais crossed the barrier, grabbed gohan and mirai, and disappeared.

Back on the planet of the kais, thirty minutes later

The kais had brought gohan, mirai, videl, and atla back to the planet with them, and mirai and gohan were now suspended twenty feet in the air, encapsulated in huge purple crystals. Videl and atla had become unconscious when their mates had, but they were revived almost immediately.

"that is more than I can say for gohan and mirai. It is their physical strength that was drained. More than their ki force, which is now unlimited with the power of divine flow, but their actual strength. If it weren't for the fact that their mates carry an imprint of their original and true strengths, there would be no way to revive them." Said supreme kai.

"how long will it be before they are revived?"

videl was frantic. She had felt some of the pain gohan had felt, and all of the anguish, that he had not the power to fight against cell.

"It could be hours, days, or even weeks. There is no true way to tell. I have linked them to the core of our planet in hopes that it will have enough divine energy to restore their strength, but it is a gamble."

At that moment, Gohan's sword, which he had replaced in the stone where he had drawn it, before the tournament, began to ring. The stone shattered, and the blade went zooming for the crystal where gohan was being revived. Before anyone could move to stop it, the crystal shattered on the impact of the blade, and likely gohan with it. There was an explosion, and then a power level that could only belong to one person, but yet seemed too strong even for him, emanated from the center of the blast. When the smoke cleared, gohan stood there, holding the sword, his power increased by at least one third it's normal amount.

"he… he has mastered the blade…"was all that supreme kai could say. He floated down to the ground, and videl ran to him. He embraced her, then said

"step aside, my love, for there are things I must do, if I am to defeat cell."

She did as he asked, and he flew to the shattered remains of the stone where the sword had broken free.

He understood now, why he wasn't able to do it – to become a ss4. mirai had had one of the prerequisites, but, at the time, he was not even a ss2, so he was lacking. Now gohan had all that was necessary. He had to have the strength. To kill cell, and to right that which was wrong, he had to have it. It was there. All he had to do was reach out, grasp it, and it would be there. He began powering up. Ss1…2…3… his hair grew longer still, as his ice blue eyes gleamed with intense power. lightning flared up around him, and still he pushed himself. He saw why he had to kill cell. It was that, or watch him destroy everything gohan cared for. No hesitation this time. No naiveté. He would kill him. Gohan leapt off the pedestal a changed being. He was golden – his hair a bright gold that shone like daylight. His eyes shone, ice within fire. He lifted the sword.

"now there is only one thing left to do. I had refrained from binding my ki to the sword, because I had felt a separate sentient entity within it, but now, I realize that that entity is the key."

He drew his fingers along the length of the blade, it gleamed, and then, out of it popped an old kai, who appeared to think he was still on the toilet. The kai looked about, pulled up his pants, and said

"you've got some nerve! I'm on the can for ten minutes, and ye just kick me off! Young people. They have no respect! Hmph!"

there was a group sweatdrop, and no-one, all of whom who were expecting a strong fighter, or even a wizened sage, expected a disgruntled old man who clearly had several millennia worth of hemorrhoids (this would be an image the small group would try to forget for the rest of their lives).

"so, you pulled the sword from the stone. What are ye, anyway, some kind of Cro-Magnon?"

"actually, I'm a saiyan."

The kai jumped back, a look of fear and wonder on his face. He then seemed to reason himself out of whatever idea he had just come to.

"no, no, no. must be some kind of naming mistake. They didn't look a thing like that, from what I remember of the old books. Your just an incredibly powerful something else!"

no-one had the foggiest idea what the old prune-bag was talking about, but they guessed he was just incredibly powerful and senile.

"okay, then. Time to unlock your secret strength. That's my job, anyway, not that I'm at all happy just drawing out the secret power of anyone who comes along and pulls my sword from the stone."

At this point, he was muttering digruntledly again.

"how long would it take to draw out my secret strength?"

"oh, anywhere between 24 to 36 hours, depending on how really strong you are."

Gohan shook his head.

"okay then. That's going to have to wait until I get back from crushing cell."

And, in the blink of an eye, he was gone, transmitted back to earth to fight cell.

Earth, twenty minutes ago

Gogetunks had done his best, but he could only barely hold his own against all four of the opponents. He might have faced frieza alone easily enough, but frieza, king piccolo, raditz and cell, was just too much. Pikkolo had disappeared shortly after the fusion, and bardock was still nowhere to be found. The others each had tried, but against king piccolo, who had acquired strength akin to a super saiyan 3, or raditz, who was a ss3, they stood little chance. The fuzed warrior had managed to bring the fight away from innocent people, but that did little to assuage his fears that him alone would not be enough to win this one. Nonetheless, he fought on. He was battered, bruised and bloody, and still he fought. Finally, he heard the voice of pikkolo in his head.

'alright goguh-whatever your name is! I'm on my way, and I've brought reinforcements. Just hang on three more seconds.'

And hang on he did. Just at the verge of passing out, gogetunks glimpsed two streaks, one green and white, the other gold, flying towards them. In an instant, the two streaks collided with king piccolo and raditz respectively, and gogetunks took the opportunity to afterimage behind frieza, and launch him into cell's punch. Pikkolo passed him a senzu bean, and after recharging their energy, they each faced their respective opponents. Of all of them, gogetunks was worst off, facing the two most powerful fighters alone. Unsure if any of them would survive without the aid of gohan and mirai, they rushed into the fray.

Pikkolo faced king piccolo, not knowing what the outcome would be. King piccolo clearly had some kind of new strength besides the majin power, because his power too far exceeded his original strength. As if reading his mind (and pikkolo didn't doubt that he could) king piccolo said

"yes, indeed, I have increased my strength, son. Not that you have any right to be called son by one such as myself, traitor! I have merged with a super namek. I am now Lord Piccolo Daimao, of lord slug, and king piccolo!"

pikkolo said nothing. He began fighting without a word, and had decided to neither speak nor think during the fight – he would let his fists and his ki work for him, and leave the mind out of it, for he knew, that with the reappearance of his father, came the resurgence of pikkolo's dark side. Meanwhile, bardock faced his eldest son. His power only reached ss2, but bardock's convictions and determination, coupled with his years of fighting experience, allowed him to fight on against a superior opponent. It was a full fifteen minutes before bardock was struck with a blow with which he could not compete. In the end, however, he fell to his knees, panting. four minutes prior, pikkolo found himself in the same situation. He could not will himself to fight. There seemed to be a barrier between his ability and the necessity of beating piccolo. King piccolo stood over him, laughing evilly.

"you cannot destroy that which has created you! That was your most perfect flaw, my son. The only way you could beat me would be to deny your own existence! Now bow to my strength, and I will see if my master will let you stand by my side, when we conquer the universe!"

pikkolo thought on his defeat, only for a moment, then he chuckled.

"you are an old fool, father. See what's become of you? You bear the strengths of the two greatest namekian conquerors in history, yet you kowtow before another, a magician with no greater power than the use of a cheap powerup trick! You want to see me bow? That, I won't do, but if you want to see me deny my own existence,"

pikkolo disappeared, and reappeared behind his father.

"it's as good as done."

Pikkolo drew his huge scimitar, and sliced King Piccolo in two.

"im…possible…"

"not quite. I will die now, as will you."

Pikkolo looked down at his hand, which was fading in and out of tangibility.

"unless, you concede my victory, and merge with me while there is still life left in that hollow shell you call a body. Agree, or die. That is your choice."

Piccolo thought for a long moment, and finally nodded the two halves of his head. Pikkolo used his namekian heritage, and absorbed the remains of his father. He felt himself become whole, and then more than whole, as great dragon wings and a tail emerged from his back. His power level had only increased by half a ss3 level, but he felt, like never before, like a complete being. He then sped off to help an injured bardock.

When pikkolo arrived, it was seconds before raditz struck the killing blow. He stopped him, and hurled raditz aside. He handed bardock a senzu bean, and asked what was going on.

"he will not surrender. I once saw in him, when he was no more than a child, an innocence. That is lost, now. All is lost. My son is dead."

Bardock stood, and powered up. He reached ss3, and attacked. By the end of the battle, raditz was dead.

"when there is time, I will mourn. But now, I must save my strength for the fight ahead." He suddenly got a look of pain in his eyes, clutched his head, and cried out.

"bardock! What's going on?"

"aargh…I see what is to come… there is doom ahead… such doom that I cannot bear the power of it alone!"

he flew off, in the direction of the battle between gogetunks, frieza, and cell. Gogetunks was at the end of his strength. He could take no more of the fight. Just as he was about to fall out of conciousness, bardock flew in, and ripped one of the potara earrings off. Gogetunks instantly became goku, goten, vegeta, and trunks. Bardock grabbed goten, and flew him out of harms way. Pikkolo followed up almost immediately, and grabbed trunks. Goku and vegeta were barely moving, but conscious.

"pikkolo… nice wings… take trunks… run…"

goku and vegeta flew at cell and frieza. They knew they would die, but it would be worth it, to stop cell and the other villains from getting at goten and trunks. Just as they were about to collide with the cell and frieza, the two previously dead evils were suddenly sent flying. Now, in their path stood a brilliant gold warrior, carrying a greatsword.

"gohan?"

gohan turned, and his eyes shone brilliant ice blue. He heaved a sigh of relief.

"good, I'm not too late."

Just then, frieza streaked up through the air, and attacked gohan. He blocked all of his attacks with relative ease, and turned to the two of them.

"go. I've got unfinished business here."

Bardock flew with the speed that can only be the work of a man possessed. Pikkolo could not keep up, and was soon left in the dust. Up ahead, he could see a brilliant flash forming. At the center of the flash, was bardock and goten.

"forgive me, grandson, but I cannot bear the weight of the future alone, and I know that you will be the one to aid me."

Bardock released a fragment of his forsight powers into goten, and goten's eyes flickered wide.

"grandpa bardock? What's–"

the boys train of speech was interrupted as he bore, with bardock, the weight of the vision. When it was over, goten saw things in a different way.

"we can't tell them, grandpa bardock. If we do, the future will be set."

"I know, little one… I know."

He took off his signature bandana, and handed it to goten.

"Your line now bears the curse, you know that, right?"

goten nodded, and put a hand on bardock's shoulder.

"I know, and I forgive you."

Pikkolo arrived on the scene, and they were joined shortly by goku and vegeta, who had taken a senzu bean to restore their strength.

"What happened?"

asked pikkolo. Goten and bardock said nothing, for they had vaguely seen all that lay down the two remaining paths into the future. One path surely led to doom, and the other was unsure.

"Gohan's back, and he's a ss4."

Pikkolo nodded.

"where does that leave us, then?"

"I believe I can answer that, gentlemen." Said kibito, who had appeared just to their right.

"if you'll please follow me?" before waiting for a response, they were all transported to Kami's lookout.

Before any of them could blink and ask what just happened, supreme kai said "we have located babidi, and we need you to go there and stall him from resurrecting majin buu. We've little enough time as it is, and mirai has yet to revive himself."

"we may have some luck at that even without the help of the others, but they're unconscious back where gohan is fighting cell and Frieza, and they're of even less help to us dead."

"not a problem. I took the liberty of bringing them with us, using an advanced kai form of instant transmission that doesn't require direct contact, and they shall be revived within a moment."

The supreme kai turned to a large viewing portal that showed his home world, and the large crystalline structure that held Mirai in suspended animation.

"I only hope you will do the same. Your help will be greatly needed soon enough." Meanwhile, grand kai had just arrived with the lesser z-senshi. Tien, Chiaotzu, Krillin, Yamcha, and 18 were instructed to stay on the lookout, and protect the kais, who were the only link to the kai planet, where Mirai was being revived, and Bardock, who was emotionally exhausted, both from the death of his first born, and the prophecy, decided to stay behind and fight with them, if it came to that. The others; goku, Vegeta, Goten, trunks, 16, Pikkolo, and Videl, who refused to stay behind, would travel to babidi's lair and at least stall the coming of Majin Buu until gohan had his hands free.

"and may any higher power that lies beyond us be with you"

said the supreme kai, who couldn't very well say may the gods be with you, since he was the highest god on the ladder.

"h…h… how…? How can you be so strong!"

cell was on his last leg, and freiza was suspended by his, out of energy, being by dangled by gohan into the open air. gohan's eyes were ice-fire. The fury in them was intense. He had also gained a boundless, not to mention terrifying confidence, and it managed to frighten cell, despite fear not being in his programming.

"now, I will kill you, and finish it, once and for all."

the super saiyan four held out his left hand, and began the motions of a single handed Kamehameha.

"remember this, cell? This time, there's no dad to back me up. This time, its all me, and you are at the end of the line. KaaMee…"

suddenly, time seemed to slow, and Cell heard a squeaky, annoying voice on the wind.

"rrgh, cell! Buu must be revived. The kais are sending other warriors to hold me back. The others can hold them off, but if this one reaches the incubator too soon, all will be lost! If you can't kill him, at least make use of that worthless thing you call a life, and stall him as long as possible!" gohan stopped mid Kamehameha, and smirked.

"Babidi, I presume? With the amount of time that long winded speech took up, you probably did the job yourself just now."

Gohan, deliberately letting down his guard, gave cell enough time to "suddenly" instant transmissioned directly in front of gohan, grab freiza, and disappear again.

Gohan chuckled. "absorbing freiza? You know that if I can take both of you at the same time, it wont be much harder to take both of you as one. It's really a lost cause. Then again, you're just a servant now, no? a subservient who always follows nice master's orders. what happened to destroying the world yourself, cell? didn't you want to be the strongest?"

a special beam cannon-like attack spiraled in at gohan, and he blinked out of the way, reappearing behind cell, now with shoulder spikes akin to freiza's sixth changeling form, and his tail extended. He spin kicked cell to the ground hundreds of feet below. He then tapped the negative side of his power, and charged a Kamehameha. As cell flew up to meet him, his expression changed from confidence to abject terror. Gohan's body was cloaked in an energy shadow, his eyes were still blue, but the untapped negative flow made them into endless pools of dark shadows. At that moment, cell knew it was the end.

"Kaameehaameehaa!"

as oblivion took cell, he knew, somehow, that this was for good. There would be no second return for vengeance. He was over with. Gohan had twice seen to that.

"sorry cell, but I've not the time, nor the desire to give a eulogy for one such as yourself." And with that, gohan was gone.

When the remainder of the z-senshi arrived at babidi's spaceship, their time was already limited. When they entered the first level of the ship, which, according to the kais, was a huge underground fortress with only the door showing, their time had nearly run out. After fighting their way through hoards of weaker minions, mainly humans who had succumb to the allure of babidi's offerings of power, they finally reached a large arena room that appeared to be the center stage of the final battle. There stood Babidi, in all of his three feet of glory. The shriveled yellow man had the appearance of a hairless ferret that had been fed straight alum for the larger half of his life. Despite his inability to look powerful or frightening, he managed to give a relatively sinister grin, that looked more sour than evil. He was about to speak, when Pikkolo cut in.

"lets cut out the chit chat. We're here to fight."

"We know we're on a time limit, and we're not about to let you run down the clock with idle talk." Said goku,

"especially not when there's important fighting to do." He said with an extremely saiyan smirk.

"very well then. I give you, your opponents."

With a less than artful twirl of the wrist, babidi caused several beings to spontaneously manifest behind him.

"let's see him pull a rabbit out of a hat, next." Trunks sneered.

As the figures stepped forward out of the shadows, most of them were immediately recognized as fallen foes of the past.

"I've specially regulated their strength to combat yours – a perfect way to ensure that the energy output is at its maximum."

The z senshi and their opponents were transported to multiple different areas around the grand arena, invisible energy walls separating them. 16 faced off against a new foe, or so he thought.

"what's wrong, sixteen? Don't you recognize your own brothers?"

the Majin stamp on this one's head seemed to be a bloody cut, but the blood never ran from it, merely swirled in the shape of an ornate "M". The gruff, but somehow familiar young voice suddenly split into two, side by side even more recognizable voices. Androids seventeen and thirteen spoke clearly, and the sound chilled sixteen's new soul to the core. These were two whose purpose was clearly set.

"that's right, brother. Gero is working for Babidi too, and I got quite a few useful upgrades. But please, don't call me seventeen or thirteen anymore. The name is android omega."

Trunks and Goten, freshly back from fusion, could not refuze for yet another thirty minutes out of the hour needed to recharge from a superfusion, were up against a shadowy foe unlike any other seen before. His aura was both powerful, and entirely sinister. The red skinned demon with the Majin mark said

"I know we've not met, so I suppose introductions are in order. I am dabura, prince of darkness. You? I don't need to know your names, unless you want them on your headstones."

Pikkolo found himself fighting someone who was now back for the third time, each time having become more powerful, and this time was no exception. Cooler stepped out to face Pikkolo, and shined darkly in the florescent lighting of the arena. He was in his fourth form, as he had been when he first fought goku, but his armor was darkly metallic – the color of platinum. The gems set in his head, wrists, and legs gleamed with dark energy, as did the M that stood out from the one in his head.

"you're not the fighter I was expecting. I would prefer goku, but I suppose you're merely an obstacle on that path. Prepare yourself for your entrance into the next world."

Goku was surprised to find himself alone in his arena, with Vegeta.

"what's going on here?"

"Hmph. It looks like you got your math wrong, Babidi. As much as I would like to fight Kakarot, this is neither the time nor the place, and I –"

Vegeta was cut off by the bloodcurdling cry that he let out, as he collapsed to his knees, clutching his forehead. Goku now knew why they had been put in the same arena chamber, as the power level that was too evil to be Vegeta's skyrocketed from him. Videl found herself face to face with the two grinning bald men she had seen at the tournament – spopovitch and yamu. Each held the mark, just as all of babidi's fighters did.

"hello, girl." Said the smaller one, yamu – the one with the wickedly intelligent eyes. She was now aware that this was the stronger of the two. The two eyed her, lust and bloodlust their only reasoning, and drawing blood and pain their only goal. She suddenly lost all will to fight, but knew there would be no gohan to save her this time, so fight she would.


	18. A Very Important Notice

Hullo. Ronninblade here. Just writing to say a few things:

1) my name contest for the name of pan in my sequel is still up, so come one, come all! find a better name for pan! The name in the lead at the moment is Ayumi, suggested by fellow author gohan757, but that may change. (I am looking for a name that preferably is not put to shame by Kohei, which means justice, and is the name of the other main character), and I am sorry to say that the only prize for the winning name will be my undying gratitude, due to the fact that I am financially depleted at the moment.

2) All pictures of the characters so far are published on my homepage at deviantart, accessible via the link on my author's page. They're not the best, or the worst, they're just there to give you readers an idea of what I think my characters look like. My art is template based, so it's not awful, and the characters are recognizable, so have a look!

3) I will be reposting the legacy saga again with the coming chapter, (and I mean it this time. I've actually been working on it recently, and am almost finished with chapter 17 – I almost guarantee it's completion by the end of the week) since it has been brought to my attention that due to my lack of format, it is hard to read. All reviews and alerts will likely be lost at that point, but you've got about a week at least before that happens, and then you can just check my author page for the new, improved version. I won't change anything I've already written; I'm just fixing the format, and hopefully bringing in some new readers.

Thanks for your time,

Sincerely

RonninBlade


	19. Chapter 17

Gohan had, in fact, arrived on babidi's ship five minutes prior to the rest of the z senshi. He arrived to find the entire ship empty, save for an almost overwhelming power level in the very lowest quadrant of the ship. Gohan wasted no time in reaching the power that lay within the ship, although he found it odd that Babidi had no barriers against him using instant transmission. When he reached the chamber, there stood Babidi. The short yellow man held up his hand, and the barriers gohan had been expecting appeared. The wizard cackled.

"now you fight for your life, eh, saiyan?"

"against you? doubtful."

"well, I must say, your reappearance so soon after we sapped your strength was both surprising and impressive, and I did have to work overtime to procure an opponent for you, but in the end, I succeeded quite nicely."

He snapped his fingers, and a towering colossus of a being appeared behind him. The power level matched gohan's almost exactly.

"enjoy your time in the world of the living while it lasts. Your girlfriend and the rest of your group should be here shortly. I've got surprises here for all of them. Oh, and by the way, I've cut off all contact to your end of your bond, so that although you can sense your bond mate, she'll think your still fighting cell, while you're helpless here, fighting your own fight, as she dies. How does that sound?"

gohan, his rage mounting to new levels in his super saiyan four form, lunged at Babidi, but the wizard was no longer there. Gohan was then clouted over the head with his opponents fists. He blinked to the right just before hitting the ground, and righted himself. He got his first look at his opponent at this point. The giant was pale blue-green of skin, though his eyes were red, and his hair super saiyan gold, gohan thought he recognized him. He wore a pair of what looked like cracked and damaged potara earrings, and gohan was able to surmise what he was.

"an interesting combination to choose, Babidi – brolly and bojack, fuzed into one being."

"indeed," called babidi's voice over what seemed to be a p.a. system.

"when I got a hold of the potara earrings, they were slightly damaged, but the only side affect of that is that they make the fuzed being go completely insane. Not a problem for me. Might cause you some trouble, though."

The hulking being in the odd pastel garb lunged forward with speed even gohan had difficulty rivaling. The being, gohan thought of him as brojack, may have been insane, but his fighting style was flawless. They spun through the air, a flurry of fists and feet. Brojack corkscrewed upwards, and drew a sword concealed behind his back. As he spun, he tore into gohan, leaving a deep wound in his upper left arm. gohan drew his sword, and the fight went into overdrive. As the fight progressed, brojack seeming to gain ground the whole way, gohan began to hear Videl's thoughts and experiences. As she saw her opponents, he felt her fear.

"hello, girl." He heard yamu's voice through Videl's mind. His anger rocketed once more. She had enough strength to deal with one of the two, but both? He would just have to defeat brojack that much quicker.

'hang on Videl,' he sent, though he knew she couldn't hear him through the barrier that had been brought up between them.

The room where the rest of the z-senshi are fighting for their lives

As Pikkolo fought to turn the blows of his opponent cooler, he realized he was rapidly losing ground. Cooler's regeneration ability, strength and speed outmatched his own. He had no doubt that, in the absence of the Majin stamp; the symbol on the heads of all of babidi's fighters, Pikkolo could probably beat him, but with that additional powerup, he knew he stood little chance.

'if I could somehow remove that power…' then he realized. Although he had never accessed divine energy, and doubted he had that kind of power, the two aspects of his being had trained with the negative side of the power. But to remove the Majin magic, even with the negative energy, would take all of his concentration and his strongest attack. That meant a fully charged special beam cannon, and, with no goku to sacrifice himself here, he would have to rely on strategy to allow him his opportunity. Pikkolo removed his cape and turban in one artful sweep. He would pull out every stop he had.

"this guy isn't so tough, right Goten?"

Goten nodded, as they collaboratively attacked dabura. The demon prince kept a decent defense, but seemed uninterested in attacking. If the boys weren't completely confident in themselves, they might have noticed the look of amusement in his eyes, but they both failed to notice this. Trunks decided it was becoming boring, and pushed his ss2 level up a notch. He launched a kick at dabura, and the demon caught his leg.

"huh?"

dabura's other fist flew with unbelievable speed, pummeling trunks. Three seconds later, he threw trunks to the ground. Dabura grinned, then laughed, deep and sinister. Trunks rose, clutching his bruised, or possibly even broken ribs.

"what's so funny?"

the demon abruptly disappeared from in front of them, and they couldn't sense his power level.

"where'd he go?" asked Goten.

"he can't have gone far."

"your quite right, child. I'm right here!" dabura reappeared less than a foot from Goten, and landed a forearm swing to his stomach. Goten went flying, and it was left to trunks to fend for himself.

"give up, boy. I might even make your death quick if you do."

Trunks responded by blinking to his left, and over-the-shoulder roundhouse kicking dabura in the head.

"very well. You chose your fate. Hachhhh…"

that "hachhhh" was the sound of an eighty-six year old man hacking up phlegm. (A/N I should know. My grandfather is eighty six, does that all day, and lives in the room right next to mine, so there are nights when I have to sleep in the living room to avoid the sound) well, either an eighty six year old man, or a demon performing his ultimate attack. Dabura gargled something through the mucus and saliva, and trunks had no idea what was said.

"what?"

"ftoo!" he spit, directly at trunks, and the foul stuff came too fast for him to dodge. It hit him in the arm.

"Gorgon Loogie."

"EEEEW!" trunks made an attempt to slough it off, and failed. the stuff was like glue. Meanwhile, Goten was dazedly making his way back to the battle, when he spied something happening to trunks' hand.

"trunks! Your arm!"

the boy looked down, and saw that stone was forming around his hand where the gorgon loogie had struck. He fought violently to remove it, but it only spread, and at an alarming, and increasing rate.

"it hit your flesh directly. Unless you want to cut your own arm off, there's no stopping it. hold still, and you'll suffer less in the end. And don't bother trying to smash it on the ground, either. It's your arm that's turning to stone, not being incased, so its your arm that you'll destroy, if you do that."

As the stone covered his face, trunks expression was one of fear, and a cry for help from Goten rested in his eyes. Then he was a statue.

"TRUNKS!" Goten ran up, tears in his eyes, and, seeing there was no way to free his friend, turned, slowly, to dabura.

"You…"

"Hmm?" the demon prince asked, amused.

"Pay…" his voice was a whisper, and tears stung his eyes, but only rage stood in his eyes. "HAAAAAAA!" Goten began a tremendous power up.

'what's this? His power… it's skyrocketing. Where is it coming from?' thought dabura.

As the prince of darkness looked on, lightning crackled around the boy, the bandana in his hair untied itself. And flew away, his golden hair grew long, his brow stretched, his eyebrows disappeared, all as his power level tripled. When the transformation completed, the boy was no longer there. Dabura felt himself being launched into the air faster than he could see, then launched back to the ground.

"Kamehameha!"

and that was the abrupt end of the demon prince. His last thoughts were something unimportant about how he ought to be allowed to eat breakfast cereal before his death, and he never had.

Shortly after dabura was destroyed, Goten reverted, exhausted from his first time in ss3, back to normal saiyan form, and the stone statue of trunks reverted back to a saiyan in time to see Goten change back.

"aww, dad said I was gonna be the first of us to be a super saiyan 3!"

"you can still be if you want to, trunks. I wont tell anybody. Besides, I don't think I'll be able to do it again today. I'm wiped out."

Trunks slapped Goten in the back of the head.

"it doesn't work that way, numbskull."

He chuckled, and then noticed the shield around their arena that was linked with that of android 16's had dissipated. Goten retrieved his bandana, and thought

'so far, so good. I can't follow the path of this future, so we're still on the right track, I guess.'

"Hey Goten, 16 looks like he could use a hand. Why don't we help out?"

Goten nodded, and they flew towards 16's arena, where he was having difficulties of his own.

"what's the matter, brother?" Omega had taunted 16 with this question several times already, and 16 was finding that in spite of his now human soul, he still had buttons to push, and omega knew how to push all the right ones.

"something getting you down? The 16 I knew never would have let anything hurt _his _pride. He would have just destroyed whatever bothered him."

Omega was right, 16 thought.

"I am not what I once was, omega. I am far greater!"

16 flew forward with all speed, and drove both fists into the super android's gut. Flashes of bright light emanated from the site where 16's fists were embedded in omega's torso.

"goodbye, omega."

As 16 prepared to blast omega into oblivion, the latter super android reached around behind his back, extending his hands out beyond their normal reach, and plunging them through his back. Within the split second before 16's blast went off, he saw that on the palms of omega's hands, were two small circular red crystals.

"no…" but it was already too late.

The blast went off, omega caught it in his hands, and absorbed it. As the light around them dissipated, 16 felt the other android's knee hit him in the chest with incredible force, and was sent flying back.

"what do you think of that, 16? Your not the only one with a power upgrade! My upgraded energy cells allow me to not only never run out of power, but also, to gain power from every energy blast!"

16 blasted away the pile of rubble that surrounded him, and flew at omega once more.

"no matter how strong you may become, I cannot let you win!"

the battle continued, until omega spotted something in the distance.

"ah, the cavalry has arrived."

And without warning, omega disappeared from battle. 16 caught his power level almost instantly, but that wasn't what surprised him. What surprised him was the presence of two familiar power levels darting about, not nearly at their full level, and waning in their distant fight against omega. Lacking the ability of instant transmission, 16 flew off after them at maximum speed. He reached the site of their peril just in time to watch the two of them collapse under a fist to their respective stomachs. Omega draped them over each arm, and smiled wickedly at 16.

"tell me brother, what would you trade for their lives?"

"what does it matter. You would not spare them if I traded you the world."

The evil android laughed. "ha! Quite right."

16 looked away, as omega hammered a blast through each of them. When he looked back, he did not see the boys. He saw the astonished look on omega's face, followed by hearing "kaameehaameeHAA!" as two blasts of energy flew at omega from each side. He looked about frantically, before extending his hands to either side.

"NOO!" 16 cried.

He knew that omega had the power to absorb the blasts. When the two boys appeared beside him, looks of triumph on their faces, and omega was engulfed in white light, he calmed slightly. Had they succeeded? He didn't have time to even blink as two red blasts flew from the white energy cloud, knocking Goten and trunks back. He had only just closed his eyes to blink when omega's knee collided with his face, turning his head completely around. He did not have time to breathe out a word of protest or a curse, before his vision went dead, and he passed from consciousness. He didn't know how long he was out for, but it was like being imprisoned in his own mind. He fought against the walls of his unconscious mind with all his might, but to no avail. Finally, he thought of the boys, his friends, his charges. He would have to beat this, if he was to save them. 16 focused on everything he had learned. Playing ball, laughing, smiling. He focused on the secret truth. His life was given to gohan to become a ss2, and as a result, he was given a better life. That innate link may not make him a saiyan, but it gave him access to the infinite potential of a living being. As he unlocked this knowledge, and felt his rage build, his hair turned a slightly lighter shade of red at the roots, his eyes dilated, changing color to a light glowing violet, and his power rose. He became a super being. The barriers around him shattered. In the real world, the change occurred immediately. He reached up, snapped his head back into the correct position, and rose. Omega was standing over the boys. He couldn't have been unconscious for more than a few seconds.

"OMEGA!" the evil android turned, startled, and died with that expression on his face, as his head was ripped from his body, and incinerated.

Pikkolo was having a great deal of trouble fighting cooler. The dark metal changeling was simply faster, stronger, and all around better. Pikkolo could not keep up. The changeling kept adapting to his fighting style, and healed faster than even he could. He had given up on his idea to use a special beam cannon on the Majin stamp several minutes ago, since it would not make cooler any less evil, or less dangerous.

'I'm getting too old for this, dammit! The only thing I've got that can beat this guy is a fully charged special beam cannon, or a full power thunder flash, but either way, I'd either overtax myself, or not be able to do it in time.'

Then, he got an idea. Trying to be as realistic as possible, he separated himself, but allowing cooler to strike him in the head at the last moment. One of the two Pikkolos created fell useless to the floor below, as the other continued the fight.

"dammit! Now what! I can't use my energy attacks in this form."

In truth, Pikkolo had separated nearly all of his ki into his other self, along with the knowledge of his techniques, and a single mind track – charge up a new super attack. The other self, the one fighting, had a fully functional mind, and nearly all of Pikkolo's physical strength. Almost a minute later, the fighting Pikkolo was already running out of energy.

'just a few more seconds…'

the key moment came, and Pikkolo locked cooler in, for lack of a better word, a full nelson. He transferred all of his speed and mental force into the double, who was standing on the ground a hundred feet below, focusing a new attack. Suddenly, the air around the grounded Pikkolo seemed to change direction, as it siphoned in around him where he stood, one hand with two fingers extended to his forehead, the other in the same position chambered at his left. The speed of the wind increased, as the airborne Pikkolo struggled to maintain his hold on cooler to the last necessary second. Lightning began to crackle around both pikkolos, and their wings extended, as they drew out their full power to perform the technique. The grounded Pikkolo spun his arms in rapid arcs, and crossed them in front of himself.

"Dragon Obliteration Cannon!" a brilliant crimson light extended from his crossed hands, and fired into cooler. The Pikkolo holding cooler dissipated, as his energy transferred to the other to maintain the technique. When the bolt hit cooler in the chest, multiple coils of energy split out from the main one, the head of a dragon on each, and coiled around him. He had no chance to cry out before the attack obliterated him entirely.

"Vegeta, you have to stop this!" cried goku.

He had realized several minutes ago the real purpose behind Babidi having them fight each other – the wizard still didn't have enough energy to raise Majin Buu.

"I think not, Kakarot. After all, this fight hasn't even begun to get interesting!"

Majin Vegeta powered up – super saiyan, ss2, ss3, and finally maxed his power out at ss4. goku had seen gohan's ss4 form, and although Vegeta's was nowhere near equal, it was still greater than goku's maximum. Vegeta wasted no time in plowing into goku, and although goku was fast, and possessed instant transmission, he could not evade Vegeta's newly obtained speed and power, and was soon overwhelmed.16 had passed out from obtaining his new power, and Goten and trunks were sitting idly around him, wondering what to do next. They were, for lack of a better term, super saiyan bored. When Goten glimpsed the fight to their left, he pointed it out to trunks.

"hey, look trunks. Our daddy's are fighting!"

trunks looked, saying

"why would they be doing that, dummy?"

as trunks saw the fight, Goten saw something far more vital, as he was struck by another prophecy.

"trunks… we have to stop them… we gotta!"

Goten, in spite of his weariness, stood up, and immediately powered up to ss3.

"hey! I though you said you weren't going to do that again today! And what do ya mean we have to stop their fight? I betcha my dad'll beat yours!"

"he will, and if he does, he'll kill my daddy."

"why would he do that? Your dad and mine are friends."

"not right now their not. Your dad is being controlled by the guy that trapped us, and if he kills my dad, there'll be no way to bring him back! You have to try to go ss3 too, so we can fuze and bust outta here!"

trunks turned his eyes away from the fight, and saw in Goten's eyes that he was telling the truth.

"I'll try, I guess." He said, fear evident in his voice.

What if they failed, then neither of them would get their dads back. Trunks stood, and powered up. He watched the fight progress, and saw that Vegeta was not himself. He felt the saiyan rage flow through him.

"I WANT MY DADDY BACK!" a powerful cry, it got both Vegeta's and goku's attention.

"look Vegeta," goku said, his strength waning as the fight continued.

"look at our sons! They're equal! if you kill me, how will you ever go back? How will you go to your son, and say that his father is the strongest? By the magic of an evil wizard, or by the strength of his own two hands!"

"you lie! This power was mine by birthright, and once I'm finished proving it, I'll kill Babidi myself!"

the two boys fought their hardest against the invisible barrier between the two arenas. The two proud fathers felt the power levels of the two boys continue to rise, but still they could not break the barrier.

'I just need a bit more time…' thought goku. He fought on.

"this isn't working, Goten. Lets try the fusion." Goten nodded.

It took only a few seconds for the fuzed warrior Gotenks to breach the barrier. From the goku-Vegeta side, it would have been impossible to break, but with the strength of Gotenks being around ss4, which was more than enough on 16's side of the barrier, they were through in a blink. They separated as soon as they were through. Goten, who was more exhausted from the combined weight of going ss3 twice and the prophecy, hung back, while trunks sped forward at blinding speeds.

"daddy, Stop!"

"stay out of this trunks! This is my fight!"

trunks latched onto Vegeta's arm. "don't kill him, please! Fight it!"

goku was fast losing his strength and consciousness, and could only mutter, expelling the last of his energies, for Vegeta to fight babidi's influence. Finally, Vegeta lost it, and struck his super saiyan son.

"get OFF!"

in the blink of an eye in which he saw his son fly off, Vegeta realized the hold of the wizard, and, crying out in anguish at what he had done, severed babidi's hold on him. he got off goku, and helped him up, then flew to help his son. Goten managed to crawl over to his father, and the two collapsed, exhausted.

"let's just… hope gohan can… get here soon…" said goku.

Little did he know that gohan was already there, and fighting for his life, and the life of the woman he loved.

"VIDEL!"

gohan heard her cries through their bond, but it was useless to try to breach the wall that Babidi had put up between them. Instead, gohan was forced to turn more of his attention and rage upon the brute, brojack. He spoke little besides battle roars, but it was enough to thoroughly piss gohan off, that Videl was being harmed, that his power level continued to rise, even as he was being pummeled. Despite the steady increase in his power level, though, brojack seemed to be a being without limits.

'if this is just the energy that Babidi is using to resurrect Majin Buu, I shudder to think what the actual being will be like.'

Gohan was running out of ideas, and fast, and Videl was running out of time. he finally decided to risk a technique he was not entirely sure he could control. He contorted a thin strand of negative energy around brojack, focusing it into a prism. When the brute tried to move, he found himself trapped in such a way that it sapped his energy to touch the cage. Gohan wasted no time with witty remarks. He blasted a hole through the wall with a negative Kamehameha, and instant transmissioned to Videl's location. He obliterated spopovitch and yamu in a rage fueled instant, and then went to Videl, who lay badly wounded on the ground. He gave her the last of the senzu beans, and got her up. They embraced briefly, but before they could speak a word, babidi's evil cackle resounded over all. the arenas faded, and all of the z-senshi stood in a single arena sized room, with Babidi and an oversized veiny purple egg in front of them.

"ha hahaha haha! Its over fools! I have all the energy I'll need to resurrect Majin Buu!"

"no!" said gohan

brojack, the single remaining Majin fighter alighted down next to Babidi.

"and now, ladies and gentlemen… witness, the resurrection!" Babidi raised his hands over his head, as the egg cracked open, and steam shot out with a noise too akin to a tea kettle for the z senshi not to notice. the air was still for a moment, before a gelatinous ooze globbed its way out of the egg, reforming into a rather fat pink creature of clearly minimal intelligence.

"BUUU!" said the creature.

"well, Kakarot, we really had a scare for a while there, didn't we?" said Vegeta, holding back his laughter. Goku could not do the same, and burst out laughing. Babidi stood there, bewildered. Gohan, however, saw through the childish blubber.

'he may not have the brains, but he's packing enough firepower to blow us all to Otherworld ten times.'

At the same moment, on the planet of the kais

Atla glimpsed a slight movement in the crystal where Mirai was being revived. His hand had stirred. She was about to mention it to the kais, when the crystal began glowing bright orange, which got the attention of all of them. When it suddenly ceased to be in a blinding flash of light, they all gasped. When the light subsided, mirai was free, and very much a super saiyan 4.

"my enemy… he has awakened… and so have I." and he was gone just as quickly, having instant transmitted to the sight of buu's resurrection.

Back with gohan and the others

"that is it? That is what I was created to bring about?" asked brojack indignantly.

"now now, I'm sure that buu has thousands of years of destruction under his belt, don't you buu?"

buu lifted his belt and looked under it, saying

"buu don't see any destruction here. Who you be, little man?"

"I am babidi, your new master. You can start by killing these imbeciles." Babidi said, pointing to the z senshi.

"nope." Said buu.

"what!"

"nope nope. Buu no wanna follow little orange man's orders. Buu wants candy."

Brojack stepped forward. "how about I kill you, and prove myself the strongest being in the universe?" and he flew at buu.

"me know! Buu make _you_ candy… no, buu make you a cookie!" the short antenna on the top of buu's head pointed forward, and a pink energy bolt struck brojack, turning him instantly into an oversized equivalent of a gingerbread cookie, with his look of surprise and horror still prevalent on his rather unpleasant features. The cookie was devoured in one disgusting bite.

"you like candy, don't you, Buu?" asked Babidi.

"Buu! Buu likes candy."

"alright, Buu, if you'll destroy all of these fools, I'll give you all the candy, cakes, ice cream, and whatever else your heart desires. All you have to do is kill them. Will you do that?"

"hmmm… Buu kill them for candy!"

just then, Mirai arrived on the scene. Without needing to gage the situation further, the two ss4's prepared their fighting stances.

'this is it,' thought gohan. 'The final battle.'

"Buu! Prepare yourself!"

A/N I am dreadfully sorry if this chapter is not up to par with the last sixteen. I have not worked on this fic in months, and, in addition to that, I meant for this chapter to be a transition into the more actiony part of the story, so if the details I've given are a little blurry, please bear with me, as the next few parts of the story get more interesting.

Sincerely,

RonninBlade


End file.
